Naruto: The Fox with a Dog's Fang
by SilverFang88
Summary: What would happen if Naruto found an ancient sword? The sword that once belonged to a powerful demon. Watch as Naruto goes through his adventures with the legendary Tessaiga by his side. NaruHarem
1. The Finding of the Sword

"Speaking" Normal talk

'Speaking' Thinking

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon talking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

_"Speaking" _Jutsu being called

**I do not own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha (Sniff Sniff not fair)**

* * *

It was a quiet night in Konoha no Sato. The wind was blowing peacefully while the leaves would dance in the cooling breeze as they fell off the trees. However in the darkness of the forest a lone child sat on the grass in front of an old shack.

"Ok what's the first jutsu in this scroll?" asked a certain blond haired child

The said child was a boy by the name of Uzumaki Naruto and at the moment he was reading a scroll. Not just any ordinary scroll mind you, but the villages most forbidden scroll. You see the child had just failed his academy exam and was depressed. In desperation of becoming a ninja he listened to a corrupt teacher by the name of Mizuki who had tricked the boy into stealing the said scroll.

Now the boy had done his job successfully he felt as though he should get started before his sensei arrived.

"Let's see the first jutsu on the list is _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_. Oh damn it this is my worst jutsu!" complained the child.

But regardless he still read the instructions before proceeding to learn the jutsu in the scroll. After about half an hour he had finally managed to master the jutsu effectively for his liking. So after that he made a decision that would change the course of his life forever and would be with this very action that would begin his legacy.

"Alright now let's see what else is in this scroll." After tugging on the paper he unraveled the scroll further so he could see the next jutsu. After the text was readable he read "_Fūin Jutsu: Kai no Tessaiga. _Sweet I wonder what this tessaiga thing is." Said the excited boy.

"Ok, to release this seal you must simply place a small bit of blood in the center of the ring of kanji then focus your chakra into the seal. However, if user does not have enough chakra or the user is trying to use this for ill intentions the seal immediately burn out all of your chakra coils and will burn off your arm in the process. Wow whatever this thing is it must be important for someone to go this far to protect it. Oh well." And with those words the boy bit his finger drawing a small amount of blood from the wound and placed his hand on the seal.

The results were immediate as a bright light shined through the forest illuminating everything in the clearing and even scaring away a few of the late night animals in the surrounding area. This had forced Naruto to shield his eyes so as not to be blinded by the sudden light coming from the scroll. As the light steadily began to die down the form of something rising out of the seal as though it was floating before stopping about six centimeters off the ground shining in a yellow light.

Naruto, who was finally able to see again, looked at the object in awe as he reached out to touch it. The moment his hand made contact with the object the yellow light faded to reveal an old looking katana. The cloth on the hilt was torn and faded brown along with the bronze colored guard which also seemed to have a few dents in it. The sheath was all black with the exception of a small red cloth about a few meters away from the guard.

Curiously Naruto unsheathed the katana only to feel mildly disappointed at the sight of the blade. It was not shiny silver like some of the swords he had seen Anbu carry around; this one was a dark gray with multiple dents and scratches all along the blade. Even the edge looked to be in need of sharpening as most of the blade had huge chips missing off it.

So, it was no surprise when Naruto's eyebrow began to twitch in annoyance as he held tried to fight off the erg to blow a gasket over this event. Sadly Naruto wasn't the type of person to keep his anger from showing for very long and thus, result in him shouting as he glared down at the sword.

"Damn it why couldn't it be something at least a little bit cooler than this piece of shit! God damn scroll I got ripped off!"

Frustrated and clearly annoyed, the boy tossed the old sword away he made his way back towards the scroll in hopes of finding a cooler jutsu to learn from its contents. Yet before he could unravel it any further he heard something approaching from the bushes and turned to see his other sensei Iruka. The expression on his face made it clear that he was very angry at the blond.

"Found you Naruto! What are you doing stealing the scroll like that!" Yelled the man as a small vein could now be visible on his forehead.

"Looks like you found me sooner than I though. I only learned one jutsu." Mumbled Naruto while scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

'He does look like he has been training a long time.' Thought Iruka. Just then he took notice to the rather old looking katana lying on the ground out of the corner of his eye.

"Naruto where did you get that from?"

Naruto looked back at the sword before scuffing and crossing his arms, "Stupid thing ripped me off. I unsealed it from the scroll hoping it was some jutsu or something cooler than that piece of shit."

"About that, why did you steal it in the first place?"

"Oh yeah!" shouted Naruto before grinning. "Iruka if I show you the jutsu I learned then you will let me pass right?"

"Where did you come up with that idea?"

"Mizuki-sensei told me. He said that if I got the scroll and learned one jutsu then I could pass."

'Why would Mizuki say-'

Just then Iruka heard the sound of kunai whizzing through the air and heading in their direction. Thinking quickly Iruka pushed Naruto to the side as a multiple of kunai embedded themselves into his flesh. He looked up in the tree to see Mizuki crouched down on the branch carrying two Fuuma Shrunkens on his back.

"Naruto give me the scroll!" shouted Mizuki to the confused blond

"No don't give it to him Naruto! He's just using you to get the scroll for himself and to betray the village!" shouted Iruka as he pulled out the kunai in his shoulder.

"Don't even bother Iruka. After all why would he even trust you since this village has been keeping secrets from him all his life."

"What secrets?" asked a still confused Naruto.

"No Mizuki! It's forbidden for you to speak of that!" Iruka shouted only to be ignored by the traitor.

"A secret so classified that anyone who uttered even a word of it was punished by death. The secret that was meant to be kept secret from everyone, especially you." Said Mizuki with an evil grin on his face.

"What was this secret?" asked the curious and confused blond. " Why was it kept from me?"

"NO! DON'T TELL HIM!"

"The secret that you are the Kyuubi no Kitsune!"

That was when everything stopped in the eyes of Uzumaki Naruto. He saw visions of his past come into his mind. He saw parents tell their children not to play with him. He saw the academy children laugh at him when he failed to do something He saw the drunks beat him into unconsciousness. Then finally he saw himself crying on a swing alone while the parents and children all glared at him. As the pictures came through his mind he could hear the academy children laugh at him and the adults yell hatful things to him.

"That is why you will never be accepted by this village you filthy demon and that is why you will die here and now!" Yelled Mizuki as he began to spin the giant shrunken in his hand before throwing it at the still dazed blond.

"Naruto get down!"

The sound of metal hitting flesh filled the air as the giant shrunken pierced itself into his back. He glanced at his pupil and began to cry at the dazed look in his eyes. Naruto, who had just gotten out of his daze, stared back up at his sensei who was crying for reasons he didn't know.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I know I should have helped you more since I knew what kind of pain you were feeling. I just sorry I didn't help you more than I could have." Sobbed Iruka as more tears began to fall.

Naruto continued to stare at his sensei for a moment before grabbing the katana and dashed off into the dense forest. He didn't look back even when he heard Iruka call for him he didn't look back. He kept running jumping from branch to branch until he couldn't keep going. He plopped himself down on the ground and rested his head on the tree trunk behind him. Naruto sat there a few moments catching his breath while wiping away the sweat on his brow.

Just as he was about to get up he heard two voices coming from behind him and saw that it was Mizuki talking to Iruka who was leaned up against a tree while panting heavily.

"How can you help that demon; after everything that it had taken from you?" asked Mizuki

When Iruka didn't answer he sneered at his ex-comrade before saying "You know me and Naruto are alike. Both of us are demons who want power and we will do anything to get it."

"You're right" answered with a sigh Iruka

Naruto gripped the sheath of the katana tighter and was trying his very best not to burst into tears. 'I knew it! I knew he hated me just like everyone else."

Those thoughts however were soon crushed when he heard Iruka's next words.

"A demon would be like that but that is not Naruto. Naruto is a great child who only wishes for people to accept him for him and not what he contains. Sure he makes mistakes at times but he still has the strength to get back up and try again. That is the Naruto I know and I acknowledge him and his dream."

Mizuki faces showed viable anger at the man in front of him before sighing and unbuckling the last shuriken off his back. "I was planning to kill you last but now you leave me no choice."

That being said, he twirled the shuriken in his hand before rushing towards the now defenseless form of Iruka. Yet the man held no fear in his eyes as the traitor advanced upon him. The only thing that showed any signs of life still remaining on the young man's face was the small smile on his lips and along with one simple thought.

'I guess this is it then.'

Just as Mizuki was about to strike an orange blur shot out from the tree line and landed a knee to the traitor's chin causing the Chuunin to go flying backwards and skidding across the clearing. His shrunken, due to the sudden impact, went flying out of the man's hand and into the trees cutting a few branches off in the process as it flew off into the air.

'Naruto!' thought the surprised Chuunin as Naruto skidded to a to glare at the corrupt Chuunin who had just recovered from his attack.

"You little brat!"

"Lay one finger on my sensei again and I'll kill you!" Growled out Naruto while gripping onto the sword in his hands tightly.

"Yeah right! I can take you down in a single move!"

Naruto gave him no reply instead he put the sword on his waist band and put his hands into a cross shaped seal before shouting out, "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_**".**

In a giant puff of smoke the whole clearing they were standing in was covered in orange wearing children all glaring at the Chuunin.

The said Chuunin was now scared out of his mind. Everywhere he looked he saw the same boy glaring at him with katanas in their hands. All of them made their advancement on the traitor and not long after an eco of a traitor's screams could be heard all the way back to the village.

When the clones dispersed the sight of a bloody and bruised Mizuki was lying unconscious on the ground. Satisfied with his actions the blonde boy turned his attention back towards his sensei and grinned at him.

"Do you I think I over did it?"

This earned him a chuckle from the scared Chuunin who was currently smiling at him from his position by the tree.

"Naruto come over here and close your eyes for a moment." Naruto nodded and walked over towards his sensei before closing his eyes. He felt his goggles being taken off followed by the feeling of something else being placed on his forehead.

"Ok you can open your eyes now."

When he did he saw that Iruka was smiling proudly at him while holding his goggles in his hands and yet seemed to be missing his hitai-ate. Then it came to him as he reached up to feel his hand brush against metal and the symbol of the leaf engraved into it.

"Congratulations Naruto; you graduate." Said Iruka proudly

Naruto's shocked expression then changed to an expression of great happiness before lunging at his sensei screaming "I did it!" over and over again. Had Naruto been paying attention he would have felt the sword pulse and glow greenish-yellow for a moment before fading back to normal.

* * *

Fist chapter is finished. Though I hope I changed it to make it not like the canon too much. Please R&R I need to know if this was good for my first try at writing fanfiction. If you flame I don' t care just as long as you give me some advice so I can improve. Till then see ya around.


	2. A New Friend and the Scarecrow's Test

Before we begin I want to thank everyone set me reveiws. Just so you all know I'm not good at descriptions and fight sceans yet so please bair with me on that amd of you can give a better one than I did on something then please tell me. Also I already have the Harem listed so if you wanted to have Sakura or Hinata in it the your SOLed. If you want a reason then just look on my profile and you'll get it. Aslo I will have a list of the Harem at the end of the chapter. Someone asked if Naruto will become a half demon.Though I'm not planning on putting other demons except the biju. I can assure you though your questions will be answered when the time comes. Again thank you to the reviews and I hope you injoy the chapter.

"Speaking" Normal talking

'Speaking' Thinking

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon talking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

_"Speaking" _Justu

**I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha (Sniff Sniff I'M NOT CRYING DAMN IT!)**

* * *

It had been a few days since the scroll incident and he had taken his picture yesterday. That day went from a simple picture to teaching a little punk by the name of Konohamaru how to use _Oiroke no Jutsu _on his sensei. In the end he had a very boring day and he had the oriountation in three days.

Naruto stared at the sword that lay in his lap. He had been trying to find something that made the sword so special and had yet to come up with anything. He even asked the Hokage about the sword and even he didn't know. The old man did say however that he could keep it so long as he didn't hurt himself or anyone from the village with it.

"Damn it! What is it with this thing! What makes you so freaking special!" yelled the frustraited blond.

"Blah I got better things to do than to stare at an old ass sword." Said Naruto before heading out to train. Right as he was about to exit his home he stopped and looked at the sword again. He grinned before running back to it and racing out the door and out to the closest training field. The moment he arrived he placed the sword on the side of a nearby tree before pulling a small scroll out of his pocket.

After getting permission for keeping the sword he had been given a small scroll by the old man. He had said that if he was going to keep something so dangerous he might as well learn how to use it. So now was the perfect time to begin since he had nothing better to do. He undid the scroll before reading and memorizing the kata for basic swordsman ship.

Naruto then created eight clones before grabbing his sword. He slid into the basic stance and waited as the clones rushed forward towards him. He ducked under one of the clones who tried to do an aerial strike with a kunai and parried around another who was trying to stab him. Turning quickly he managed to catch the clone off guard and was ready to strike when he was suddenly punched in the stomach by a clone who had burrowed underground. Before he could regain his footing he was kicked in the face by another clone which sent him tumbling back

Cursing lightly Naruto climbed back to his feet before getting back into his stance. He waited for them to attack again before retaliating. This time however he didn't keep his concentration on only one target but was mindful of all of them. He parried a clone that was aiming for his face again and swung the blade cutting the clone in half before it puffed out of existence. He turned his attention on an incoming clone before glancing around to make sure none of his other clones were trying to sneak attack him.

When it appeared that none were he was about to attack when he heard something coming up from behind him. Looking behind him he saw two clones that were about seven feet behind him. As a last minute decision he jumped into the air only to mentally slap himself as the two clones threw kunai at him.

He waited for the sharp metal to pierce his skin only to be surprised when he heard metal clash against metal. When he opened his eyes he saw that all his clones were gone and there place was a single kunoichi. She wore a Chinese style sleeveless shirt with baggy black pants with blue sandals. Her hair was tied into two buns and had dark brown eyes with her hitai-ate around her forehead.

The girl in question just shook her head as he walked up to her. Finally when he was right in front of her he smiled before scratching the back of his head.

"Thanks for that." Said Naruto as he started laughing nervously

The girl didn't reply at first before sighing and shaking her head.

"Kid….You suck." Said the girl

"What!" yelled Naruto

"Kid you don't jump when you are out numbered and surrounded. In fact that is the last thing you **want** to do. It makes you completely open and it just makes it easier for you enemies to hit you with jutsu or weapons." Lectured the girl

The blond just stood there blinking a few times before narrowing his eyes at her. The said girl only raised an eyebrow at this action before asking "What?"

"How long were you watching?" asked Naruto while his eyes were still narrowed at her.

The girl snorted before answering "I only watched for a few seconds and even I know that you suck."

She expected him to get angry but instead he just grinned and said enthusiastically "I guess that mean I got to get better ne."

It was now the girls turn to blink before smirking at him. "Don't think you can just pick up a sword and then expect to get good right off the bat. It takes time and lots of practice to be a master swordsman."

The blonde's grin only widened before asking "If that's the case can you help me?"

She was tempted to say no; she really was. But after seeing how he fought with the sword she knew he could use some better instructions than what he was getting from a scroll. Again she sighed before nodding her head.

"Sweet!" yelled an excited blond. He then looked back at her before asking "What's your name anyways?"

"Tenten." She answered "You?"

"Uzumaki Naruto; The next Hokage!" shouted Naruto

"Well then let's get started." Said Tenten as she unrolled a scroll before releasing a katana from one of the kanji written on the scroll.

'Let the torture begin.' Thought Tenten as she rushed forward katana ready in hand.

**Two Days Later**

The academy was as crowded as it always was. The children were all excited since today was the day that the graduating class was going to begin there new life as ninja. The select few who weren't as enthusiastic about it were Nara Shikamaru, Aburame Shino, and Uchiha Sasuke. As the class rooms began to fill two kunoichi rushed threw the hallways both of witch were trying to enter the classroom before the other did. Finally after struggling for a few minutes the two managed to squeeze threw the doorway before shouting "First." at the same time.

One of the two girls was a pale blond haired girl named Yamanaka Ino who had long light blond hair, light blue eyes, a purple shirt with bandages underneath, and a matching purple skirt. While the other was a girl named Haruno Sakura who had a red Chinese-like dress with black ANBU style pants, a white circle on the back, and long pink hair. The girls glared at each other before 'huffing' and turning away from each other. That was when Sakura noticed that the seat next to Sasuke was missing and rushed over.

"Good morning Sasuke-kun!" squealed Sakura

The brooding Uchiha looked at her for a moment before looking out the window again.

As everyone was seated they all heard the door slide open and turned to see Naruto walking into the classroom looking exhausted before making his way over the opposite side of Sasuke.

"What are **you **doing here Naruto? This is for graduates only." Said an obnoxious boy named Kiba as his dog barked at Naruto as he passed.

The only reply he got from Naruto was a grunt before finally making it to Sasuke's side of the desk. The Uchiha looked up at Naruto for a moment only to hear him grunt out "Move over."

The Uchiha scuffed before staring at the board waiting for Iruka to show up.

Sakura, on the other hand, had more to say to the blonde. "Naruto you baka! You don't boss around Sasuke-kun like that! Now apologize to him before I haft to hurt you!" Shrieked the pink haired girl.

Naruto looked up for a moment with his eyes half opened before looking back down at the Uchiha. Then without warning he hit the Uchiha on the top of the head with the end of his sheath and order "Move. Over. Now."

The said Uchiha gave Naruto a glare that promised a lot of pain before noticing not only the sword but also the bags under the blonde's eyes. Normally he wouldn't care if the blond hadn't gotten any sleep but after seeing the sword and seeing how he acted right now he assumed that the orange clad ninja was in fact tired and just didn't feel like dealing with things. He could recall a time when he was like this and knew that it was annoying so that was why he snapped at his fan-girls who tried to mess with him when he was up all night training.

Sighing he moved himself over to where he was in the middle of the jointed desks and let the boy sit. Without missing a beat the blonde sat down and banged his head on the desk and let sleep claim him. His soft snores could be heard throughout the classroom as most people had only one thought in mind.

'What have you been up to Naruto?'

Just then Iruka came into the classroom and immediately all thought of Naruto were vanished as the thought of who was on there team returned to them full force.

"Ok class today is the day that you will be on your teams along with your sensei. Now team one" this continued as Iruke went down the llst of students until finally, "Team 7 will consist of Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Your Jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi." The moment he was finished he heard a loud squeal of joy as Sakura jumped form her seat and give the victory sign to Ino who huffed and looked away.

Soon after that the other teams were called and the bell rang for lunch. Everyone proceeded to get up and leave the classroom while one orange clad boy stayed in the room by himself. He stirred a bit before raising his head up and looking around. Seeing nobody around he got up and started to do the exercise that Tenten had given him. He started walking up the wall in the classroom slowly as to not fall off and hurt himself. He continued to do this until he heard the bell ring and decided to go back to sleep.

After lunch all the students returned to the class with some occasionally glancing at Naruto's sleeping form. Soon after all the students returned the jounins began to arrive and pick up students. Now all that was left was team seven who was waiting for there sensei to show up.

That was two hours ago and they still hadn't seen hide nor hair of there sensei and were starting to get annoyed. Finally, just as Sakura was about to start yelling, the door to the classroom slid open revealing a man with gravity defying silver hair wearing a mask covering most of his face. He wore a black shirt and matching pants with a standard Jounin vest over the shirt. He had black fingerless gloves on his hands and his hitai-ate was slanted over so as it covered his right eye. Over all the man look really weird in the team's eyes. The man looked at the group with a bored expression before placing a finger on his chin.

"My first impression of you three is…I don't like you. Now wake him up and meet me on the roof." Said the man before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. The two sighed before waking the sleeping blonde and heading to meet there new sensei.

When they arrived to the roof they saw that there sensei was already sitting on the railing of the building. He gestured them to sit and that is what they did…well Naruto collapsed on the ground before striating himself up into a sitting position.

"Alright now that your all here we can begin introducing are selves." Said Kakashi

"Um sensei why don't you go first; so we now how to do it." Said Sakura

"Well my name is Hatake Kakashi my likes are none of your business, my dislikes hmm…my dream is to….huh and I have lots of hobbies." Said Kakashi

'So all we got from him was his name.' thought all the genin

"Ok now it's your turn. You baggy eyes; your first." Said Kakashi

The boy groaned before looking at his sensei and replying "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, my likes are ramen and Sakura-chan, my dislikes are how long it takes for ramen to cook and the color green, my hobbies are training with my new friend Tenten and trying out new ramen flavors, and my dream is to become Hokage and to become a master swordsman."

'Well this is something new. I thought he just wanted to become Hokage. Oh well I'll ask him about it later…if he passes.' Thought the jounin

"Ok your turn pinky." Said Kakashi

The said girl glared at him for a moment before saying "My name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are (glances at Sasuke) my hobbies (repeat process) and my dream is to (repeat process and squeals)."

The Jounin sighed "and your dislikes?" asked Kakashi

"Naruto." Said Sakura as she glared at the blonde who was too tired to hear her.

'Kunoichi nowadays are more focused on boys than training. Looks like I got to fix that problem otherwise she could become a liability to the team.' Thought Kakashi as he rubbed his temples.

"Ok your turn brooder." Said the jounin

The boy did nothing for moment before speaking "My name is Uchiha Sasuke, I have no likes, I dislike almost everything, my hobbies are training, and my dream is to rebuild my clan…and kill a certain person."

'I guessed as much. Well that's another thing I have to fix.'

'Sasuke-kun is so awesome.' Thought Sakura

"Alright tomorrow we will begin your first mission." Stated Kakashi

"What type of mission is it Kakashi-sensei?" asked Sakura

The Jounin looked at them with his one visible eye curving into an upside down U before answering "Survival training."

"But we already have had survival training in the academy." Whined Sakura

"Yes you have. But this one is different since it will determine weather or not you become genin."

"But we already passed. What is the point in trying so hard only to take another test?" asked a now very confused Sakura

"That was to see who had the ability to become genin. The real test is to weed out the ones who will actually become genin or the ones that will be sent back to the academy."

The man then began to chuckle before noticing the questionable looks from the three kids. "Oh I just thought of how funny your expressions would be if I told you that there is a 66 chance that you will notpass this test."

The results to his were priceless in his eyes. Sakura looked shocked, Sasuke looked pissed, and Naruto eyes widened slightly.

"Alright meet me at training ground 28 at 9:00 tomorrow morning. Oh and don't eat anything for breakfast you'll just throw it back up." with that the Jounin puffed out of existence leaving three surprised genin behind.

**The Next day**

Two of the three man team staggered into the training field while desperately trying to keep there eyes open. As they waited they noticed that someone was missing. That someone was the class dobe, the orange clan baka known as Naruto. The thought of them failing because of one late member angered one of them considerable while the other was still upset but was able to keep calm about it.

After waiting a few moments the genin were now furious with not only the tardy teammate but also there sensei. After two hours of waiting there was a puff of smoke signified the arrival of there sensei.

"Yo"

"YOU'RE LATE!" shouted Sakura

"Yes well a black cat crossed my path so I had to take an alternate path to get here." Lied the Jounin. He saw the annoyed look on both of his student's faces before-

'Wait, two of them.' Thought the confused Jounin

"Hey where's the blonde one?" asked Kakashi

He immediately regretted it when he started hearing the rather long ranting of Sakura who had started stomping around the training field while occasionally kicking one of the three logs posted into the ground.

After she calmed down a little bit Kakashi sighed before preparing to search for the blonde when he heard something that made his skin crawl.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL!" shouted a man

'DAMN IT!' thought Kakashi as he looked behind him to see a dust cloud coming closer to there location. Finally, just as it was about to pass them, the cloud stopped in the middle of the training field kicking up more dust in the process.

Once it cleared it revealed a man wearing a green spandex suit with a standard jounin vest with a red Hitai-ate tied around his waist like a belt. The man also had a bowl cut hair style and **huge** eyebrows that would often twitch.

The shocking thing was that right beside him stood an annoyed looking Naruto who was fingering the hilt of his sword dangerously.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL I WAS INFORMED THAT THIS GREAT SORCE OF YOUTH WAS NOW UNDER YOUR TUTALIGE! I ALSO DESCOVERED THAT HE WAS TAKING YOUR TEST TODAY SO I DECIDED TO LEND MY SERVIESES AND HELP HIM GET HERE IN TIME!" Shouted the green clad man while ending it with a smile that made his teeth reflect off the sunlight

Kakashi sighed as he heard this. He really didn't feel like dealing the Gai today…or any time of the week and this was surly going to bring the jounin to him demanding more challenges.

Just as he was about to reply to the man he heard Naruto say "Gai-sensei I think I hear Lee saying he needed support and that he was lacking youth!"

"WHAT! THEN I MUST GO! GOOD LUCK ON YOUR TEST MY YOUTHFUL COMRADS! FAREWELL!" said Gai before racing off to the training grounds he left his team at.

"Thank god." said a relieved Kakashi "How did you run into him Naruto?"

The boy shrugged before stating "My new friend is apart of his team. So I was introduced to them yesterday. She told me if I ever wanted to get rid of him just say something about youth and about Lee and he will be gone."

'Note to self: Remember that trick next time Gai bugs you.' Thought Kakashi before rummaging threw his bag and pulled out an alarm clock. He then placed it on one of the three stumps in the middle of the training field.

"Ok you one hour to complete this test. The goal of this test is to take these-" he lifts up his hand to show two bells dangling in his hand on red string. "-from me before time runs out. If can get one of these then you pass; if not then you fail and you will be sent back to the academy."

'That was why he didn't want us to eat.' Thought two of the genin

"Well then if you are all ready to begin then…GO!" and with that all three of them dashed off into three different directions.

Kakashi sighed before seeing the orange clad ninja standing there in front of him with his hand on the hilt of his sword.

"You know compared to the others you're a little bit…weird. Don't you think it would be better to strike me while your hidden instead of head on?" asked that Jounin

"The only weird one here is you since you have a rival who has a creepy genjutsu occur whenever he hugs that Lee guy." Stated Naruto

'Ouch.' Thought Kakashi

'Huh' thought Sakura

'Hn' thought the Uchiha as he shook his head

"Ok now that was uncalled for." Said Kakashi as he started to reach into his weapons pouch.

"I don't matter because I'm getting that bell weather It's uncalled for or not!" shouted Naruto before unsheathing his sword. After meeting Tenten a few days ago she had gave him something to at least clean the sword off with. Now instead of a dirty beaten up sword it now looked slightly beaten up only it no longer dirty and dark gray but shiny silver.

Naruto then charged the Jounin with decent speed while swinging the blade aiming to strike him on the side. The strike was easily parried and had thrown the blond off balance for a moment before he stuck the blade into the ground and spinning himself to where he was facing his sensei again. He pulled the blade out of the ground and made another attempt the hit his sensei. This surprised the Jounin enough to distract him form dodging the blade.

Naruto grinned when he saw that his attack was going to get through only to be shocked when he heard a loud 'clang' of his sword connecting with a kunai. He gritted his teeth before jumping back getting himself some distance from his sensei before charging him again while holding the sword in a thrusting stance. The jounin waited patently for the blonde to get closer before jumping over the blade and hitting it on the side with his kunai sending the sword and the blond off course. After landing he spun around, pulled out two shrunkens and tossed them at the blonde.

'Shit' berated the Jounin. He was so used to being an ANBU that he forgotten that he wasn't aiming to kill these opponents. It just surprised him how the blonde was fighting. He was sure he was going to be able to read his book but, evidently, the "dobe" of the class was not that bad.

He almost sighed when the target burst into smoke. He began looking for the blonde only to see a group of them charging him all in the same thrusting stance as the previous one had. As he was about to counter attack he felt something grab hold of his legs. He looked down to see two hands holding onto each of his legs and was not letting him go. He looked back up to see three of the clones closing the distance between them.

'Ok, I admit I underestimated you a little bit Naruto.' Thought Kakashi before pulling his legs out of the clone's grip. The force behind that made the two clones uproot themselves from the ground and go flying towards the incoming three. 'But now that I know what you're capable of I can't do that anymore.' Continued Kakashi before watching the two clones collide with two others making them puff out of existence leaving one left charging. Before the clone even knew what happened he felt a fist hit him in the face before puffing away.

The man turned his attention to the four remaining clones. He watched as they prepared to charge when they all suddenly felt a sharp object strike them in the leg. All of them disappeared in a plume of smoke before leaving a confused and shocked Naruto standing in the middle of the clearing.

"Nice try Naruto, but you're going to have to try harder than that to get one of these bells." Said Kakashi while pointing at the bells on his waist band.

'This guy is fast!' thought a now sweating Naruto 'I didn't even see him throw anything and yet all my clones where dispersed before they even realized they were hit! Is this how strong a Jounin really is?'

Just as his thoughts began to wonder he saw something come flying out of one of the trees. He then realized what they were when they hit there target right in the back making there sensei fall forward before puffing into smoke revealing a log covered in kunai and shrunken. Taking that as a hint the orange clad ninja sped off into the forest to regroup and think up a new plan of attack.

Off in the distance Sasuke was seething for his predicament. The fact that he had given away his position was mostly revolved around his anger. Though he at least discovered that the blonde wasn't as weak as he had originally thought was somewhat reassuring. Truth be told he figured that if he could watch the boy fight he could evaluate how useful the blonde could be.

Now the problem was trying to find his sensei. He needed to test his own strength against the jounin. 'If the dobe could last as long as he did then I should at least be on a higher level than that.' Thought Sasuke as he stopped at a nearby clearing. Just then he heard a horrified scream coming not far from his location. It wasn't hard to identify scream was Sakura so that meant that the jounin was nearby.

"Well I'll give you credit, your not like your teammates." Said a voice behind him

"I different from those two fools, I will get one of those bells." Said Sasuke not turning around to face his sensei

"Well…if you think you can then by all means try." Said Kakashi calmly

"As you wish." Said the Uchiha before turning around quickly before throwing kunai at him. The jounin jumped to the side just as Sasuke had planed before tossing another kunai at a rope hidden in the bushes. The jounin slid to a stop before avoiding the projectiles as they stuck into the tree were he was once kneeling in front of.

Just as the Jounin had slid to a stop the young Uchiha appeared behind him and attempted to punch the jounin which he had blocked. The Uchiha then attempted to punch him again only for his punch to be caught by the jounin's palm. Sasuke then shifted his body allowing him to aim a kick at the man face which was again blocked by the jounin. Sasuke smirked before reaching out for one of the bells which made the jounin let go of the genin and jumped back giving them a little distance away from each other.

'Well then is interesting. I knew Sasuke was good but I didn't think he would come so close to getting one of the bells.' Thought Kakashi

The genin glared at the jounin before doing a few seals after landing on the tiger seal. The genin took in a deep breath before placing his hand over his mouth and exhaling "_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" _After calling out his jutsu a giant flame erupted from his mouth aiming strait for the surprised Jounin. Soon the area that the jounin was at was covered in bright red flames

As the fames died down Sasuke began looking for signs of his sensei. When he found the remains of a scorched log he began searching franticly around the clearing. Just then he felt something grab his ankle and saw a gloved hand coming from underground then with a fierce tug the Uchiha was pulled underground leaving only his head above surface.

"Just because you're different doesn't make you better." Said the jounin before pulling out a small orange book and disappearing into the trees.

"Damn it." Cursed Sasuke

The boy struggled for a moment trying to get out of the hole. Just then he heard a noise coming from a nearby bush before seeing a blur of orange pop out of the forest. Naruto looked at Sasuke for a moment before cursing.

"Damn it! I just missed him." He looked back at his teammate before growling. He then walked over to the Uchiha before he started digging.

"What are you doing dobe?" asked Sasuke

"Even if I hate your guts I won't leave a comrade behind. A ninja should never abandon his comrade no matter the situation." Stated Naruto as he continued to dig.

"Hn just hurry up." ordered Sasuke

"Don't push it teme." Replied Naruto. After a minute or two he finally made the hole wide enough to pull the Uchiha out. After getting him out he stood and was about to go looking for his sensei when Sakura burst from the bushes.

"Sasuke-kun!" squealed Sakura before embracing Sasuke's arm while having stars in her eyes.

"Get off!" ordered Sasuke as he shoved her off his arm.

"Hey teme! Don't push Sakura like that she was only worried that's all!" Yelled Naruto

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that you baka!" yelled Sakura before bopping Naruto on the head.

"I got to find Kakashi. I almost got a bell and next time I will have one in my hand." Said Sasuke as he got some of the dirt off his shirt.

"Yeah you go Sasuke! Show that scarecrow who's boss!" cheered Sakura not knowing how foolish her statement sounded.

Just as Sasuke was about to go searching the timer on the alarm went off. "Damn I was wasting all this time." Said a now scowling Sasuke

"Good job Naruto! If you didn't show up we could have been getting a bell instead of wasting time!" yelled Sakura

"B-but I let him out of that hole and-" Replied Naruto before he was interrupted by Sakura

"You're so useless Naruto! Now we're going to have to go back to the academy because of you!" Shouted Sakura before bopping Naruto on the head again.

With that she stormed off while following Sasuke to the clearing where the alarm clock was and, most likely, where there sensei was waiting. Naruto, who was now rubbing the second bump on his head, sighed before tugging along the rest.

When they arrived they saw that there sensei had his nose into a small orange book. They were about to comment when they saw him gesture them to sit down on the ground. When they did the jounin snapped the book shut before giving them a bored look.

"Well I've decided to not send you all to the academy." Said Kakashi with his eye smile

He saw all of there faces light up a little bit…well Sakura and Naruto did but Sasuke just smirked. "Instead you three will be dropped from the ninja program."

"That's not fair! Why do have to be dropped when it was his fault in the first place!" shouted Sakura as she pointed at Naruto

"Explain to me **how **its Naruto's fault Sakura?" asked Kakashi. When he got no answer from the girl he continued "Yes Naruto did charge me head on which, by the way, was a foolish act on his part. But he was standing right here fighting me while you didn't do a single thing to help him."

Sakura put her head down in shame as she realized that what he said was true.

"Naruto you were being too brash when you charged strait at me. For all you know I could have killed you before you even got into striking distance." Said Kakashi sternly. His eyes softened a bit with his next statement though. "However you did do a great job since your records say otherwise and you did do one part of this test correctly. As for you Sasuke you thought that your teammates would only hinder you and decided to leave them behind."

"If this had been a the real thing then all three of you would be dead. The part of this test was not to evauluate your skills against a jounin but to prove you can work properly as a team." stated Kakashi as he stared down at the three genin.

The man then walked over and stood over the stone in the middle of the training ground before asking "This is the memorial stone. It has all the names of true heroes of this village."

"That's the stone that I want to have my name one day! I'm not gonna die a nobody. I'm going to be a hero just those on that stone!" said Naruto excitedly

"For your sake Naruto…I hope you don't end up this stone." Answered Kakashi in a solemn tone

"What! Why? Do you think I'm worthless like everyone else in this village thinks?" asked Naruto who muttered the last part.

"No it's just that the names on this stone are for ninja were killed in battle." Answered Kakashi as he looked back at his team. Naruto's face changed from sad to awestruck. "Some of my closest friends names are ingraved into this stone. I promised myself that I would never let anyone I knew die if I could help it."

'He doesn't hate me?' thought Naruto as he looked at his sensei in shock.

"Well seeing as how Naruto did one portion of his this test correctly I will give you all one last chance. Two of you will eat while Sakura gets none."

"Huh?"

"It's what you deserve after wrongly accusing your teammate for something that was not his doing." Answered Kakashi with a stern glare.

"Now you are not to give her any food…understand? If you even give her a little bit of food you will automatically fail the test." The Sasuke nodded while Naruto did as well, albet, hesitantly.

With that the jounin left them there lunches before leaving them in the clearing. After a few minutes the two heard a grumbling of a stomach before looking at a blushing Sakura who felt like hiding in a hole. Thinking it over Naruto placed the bento on the ground beside Sakura while glancing around the clearing.

"W-what are you doing Naruto? Didn't you hear what Kakashi-sensei just said?" hissed Sakura

"I don't feel his chakra around here. Go ahead and eat. We're going to need all the help we can get if we are going to get a bell." Said Sasuke as he too began searching for any signs of there sensei.

"Yeah so go ahead and eat Sakura-chan. I ate this morning so I'm not nearly as hungry as you are right now." Said a grinning Naruto

"Wait-you mean you ate instead of following sensei's orders?" hissed Sakura again

"Heh-heh I kinda forgot about that since I was so tired yesterday." Said Naruto as he scratched the back of his head while laughing nervously.

"Hurry up and eat. We don't want Kakashi to show up a catch us." Said Sasuke hurriedly

Sakura just sighed before picking up the chopsticks and took a small amount of rice before devouring it. Just as she did an explosion of dirt came forth in the middle of the training field. As it cleared a very pissed off looking Kakashi irrupted from the smoke "YOU!" he shouted

All three of genin were cowering at the killing intent rolling off the jounin. As he got closer the killing intent grew until they were close to suffocating.

"Pass." And just like that the killing intent was gone and there stood an eye smiling Kakashi.

"Huh?" said all three genin together.

"You're the first ones to think for yourselves. All the genin would always choose to listen to those orders. They just never had what it took to do what you just did. In the ninja world those who disobey the rules are scum. And that is true in most cases. However, those who abandon there friends are worse than scum." Said kakashi as he looked back at the memorial stone

"He's kinda cool." Said Naruto while looking like he was about to cry

"Now this team is now official and we will begin are first real mission tomorrow. Meet here tomorrow at ten a.m." Said the Jounin before giving them thumbs up.

"Sweet!" Yelled Naruto as he jumped into the air he held his sword high as he could in the process.

**Inside the Seal**

A giant red eye snapped open before it glanced in the direction of a rumbling sound beside its cage. Then, a moment later, a five foot wide doorway began to appear before revealing a man with in his late thirties wearing a white kimono and white pants along with a long deep redsasharound his waist with like a belt. He wore gray battle armor with a red crystal imbedded into the chest plate. His long silver hair tied into a ponytail that went all the way to his lower back. He had golden yellow eyes with slits for pupils and teal colored marks on both his cheeks. The most noticeable thing was that he had two furry white colored objects that went all the way down to his ankles.

The man glanced at the giant red eye before smirking and walking up the beast's cage. When the beast's claws struck the cage the man didn't even seem to be bothered and stepped right inside the dark cage.

"You have much to explain and a lot of catching up to do. Correct Kyuubi no Kitsune?" said the man with a smirk

The beast growled at him before saying in a loud booming voice **"Why are you here? I do not recall you being sealed inside this ningen ****Inu no Taishou or should I say…Inu no Mikiba."**

* * *

Well there's the new chapter. Here is the list of girls that will be in the harem are going to be Tenten, Temari, Hana, Yugito, Female Kyuubi, and maybe one more if I feel like it. Again if you don't like who i have in the harem then you can blow it out you ass because I'm not changing my mind!

_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu - _Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

_Inu no Mikiba _- I think it means Dog of the Three fangs plus I think it sounds cooler than what they call him normally.

R&R otherwise I will unleash the worlds most terrifiying creature in all the universe.

"YOUUUUUUUUTH!"

(Kicks Gai back into his cage) Ok maybe that wasn' t the best idea on my part. Just R&R so i don't have to let him out.


	3. The Future Date and the Journey To Wave

Yo people! (Takes a bow) It has come to my attention that a lot of people like this fic. So I would like to thank everyone who has reviewed and I hope you enjoy this chapter. Some have asked if Naruto will be getting the other swords. For now I don't want to think about it until a later time. Also when i gave the list of the harem I said I would put someone else on the list later if I felt like it. I haven't decided weather or not I want to so please don't send me ideas for the last pairing in reviews. Also I would also like to see if anyone is up to being my beta reader. It would be greatly appreciated if someoen did. But for now on with the chapter.

"Speaking" Normal talking

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking" _Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon talking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

**I do not own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha **

* * *

Naruto was, for lack of better term, pissed. Why you might ask? That question is simple; D-ranked missions. They were the bane of the ninja world that everyone wished was just go into a corner somewhere and die. For Naruto it was a mock of his skills and was not helping him gain experience with his Kenjutsu training.

You see Tenten had told him that most of her skills she gained from being a genin for so long. That alone was to say she was more than ready for most challenges that headed her way. On top of that she had fought against bandits, mercenaries, and even a few missing ninja from other countries.

So, to Naruto, the gap between them was just too big to fill at this pace. Despite this Naruto trained himself harder than he did before hand and even asked for Gai for help on some occasions. Regardless the 'chores', as he took to calling them, where putting a major dint in his advancement as a swordsman and his very limited patents was nearing its end.

"Alright team 7 your next mission is-" before Hokage could finish he was interrupted by Naruto

"If it's that cat again so help me Kami I'll kill it." Growled Naruto while fingering the hilt of his sword again which was quickly starting to become a habit.

'He has a point at least.' Thought Sasuke

'But he could at least be a little more polite about it.' Thought Sakura

"Naruto don't act like that! You're team has only been registered as a genin team for only a week and a half. So don't start getting an attitude about it." Said an annoyed Iruka

"Well while we are chasing cats and painting fences I would think we could at least handle something that involves bandits or something of use." Snapped Naruto

This made a few people in the room raise an eyebrow at his words. 'Since when did Naruto start getting worked up about fighting?' Thought most of the adults in the room.

"Well I do have something you can do. I doubt you will run into bandits but it's a C-rank mission that will get you out of the village for a while." 'And possible let out some steam in the process.' Thought the elderly Hokage.

"H-hokage-sama are you sure it's wise to let a genin team go on a C-ranked mission when they are not registered for longer than two weeks?" asked Iruka

"I believe that it would be wise seeing as how the other members of the team feel likewise about the situation. Am I correct?" asked Sarutobi. When he saw the two others nod he turned to Kakashi to see him nod as well.

"Alright you may come in now." Said Sarutobi

When he did the door slid open to reveal a tired looking old man with a brown shirt and black pants holding a sake bottle in his hand while carrying a small bag on his back wearing a sakkat.

"This is Tazuna a bridge builder from the land of waves. You will be guarding him on his way home and as he finishes the bridge." Said the Hokage as he too another puff off his pipe.

"These are the brats that will be guarding me? They look ridiculous especially the one with the sword." Said the now introduced Tazuna before chugging a good portion of his sake.

"That's it I'm killing this old drunken bastard!" Yelled Naruto while trying to get out Kakashi's grip.

"Calm down Naruto. You don't need to kill the client before the mission even starts." Says Kakashi making the child calm down slightly.

"Alright meet me at the North Gate in about an hour. And pack a few days worth of equipment." The three members of team seven nodded before they left to there own homes. After arriving to his apartment he searched his pocket before pulling out his key and unlocking the door.

After gathering his things he made his way to one of the blank scrolls on his shelf before grabbing some ink and a brush. Yet another skill he picked up from Tenten which was the most basic form of sealing. He knew he didn't have the knowledge to learn seals so he stuck to learning ones he understood. This was the only one he knew well enough to perform.

He placed his equipment in the middle of the circle of kanji before focusing chakra into the seal. After seeing the equipment (extra kunai, tent, sleeping bag, and some extra clothes) disappear into the scroll he rolled it up and placed it into his weapon's pouch.

He headed back outside before closing and locking the door. He thought about it for a while before he decided to go and see what Tenten was doing. He took his time walking to her teams training ground. After walking for twenty minutes he finally arrived to see Tenten leaning on the side of a tree trunk while staring up into the clouds.

Tenten on her part didn't know what was wrong with her. This has never happened to her before. She usually had at least something to do with her time. But today Gai and Lee had decided to experiment with a new training regiment while Neji had some personal business to deal with. She sighed again and looked back up into the clouds.

'Huh that one kind of looks like Naruto-kun somewhat.' Thought Tenten. She giggled at the thought of the boy who she had started hanging around more and more over the past few days. Everyday he would come find her and the two would spar for a good hour before stopping and getting lunch. She wouldn't admit it, but she reall loved his company and even felt as though she was getting attached to the blonde.

She sighed again "Naruto" said aloud. She blushed when she realized that she said that out loud. She then heard a twig snap and turned to see the said boy standing there grinning. This of course made her face turn light pink to almost scarlet red in less than a second.

"How did you know it was me?" asked Naruto with his grin still in place.

"W-w-well when you're around someone for a l-long time you tend to recognize things like chakra signatures and such." Said Tenten while looking back at the clouds in order to hide her blush.

"Well I guess I need to learn that trick huh. Well hey I just came by to say that I'm going on my first C-ranked mission!" said Naruto excitedly.

This brought a smile to the girls face "That's good to hear kid. Hope you do well with what I taught you." Said Tenten who had turned to face him.

"Thanks! I'll be sure to continue what you told me to do while I'm away."

Flashback

Tenten was sitting on one of the branches in the a nearby tree when she heard him yell in frustration. She looked down to see Naruto glaring up at her while trying to understand the task given to him.

"Why can't you just give me some advice so I can climb this damn tree!" shouted Naruto

"Because then you wouldn't be learning now would you?" said Tenten with a smirk

The boy continued to curse before focusing chakra into his feat like the times before. He then ran towards the tree and made only to steps up before crashing back onto the ground.

"GRAH! Why can't I get this thing write!" shouted Naruto

"It's because your frustrated." Stated Tenten as she dropped down from the tree branch.

"What does that have to do with anything." Said Naruto threw gritted teeth.

Tenten sighed before flicking him on the forehead. "Listen, whenever you're angry you tend to make more mistakes than you do at correcting them. You're just to distracted by your anger that you can't put full focus into what you're doing. For example: If I was angry when I target practice I would most likely only hit half of them. So what I do is stop, take a few deep breaths, and then try to relax myself so that I'm not as angry or just not angry anymore. Then when I go back and do my target practicing again my aim is perfect. You understand now?" asked Tenten

He nodded "So all I have to do is try and calm down and I can do better?" asked the blonde

"I guess you could say so. If it helps just chant these three words. Calm, Collect, and Precise over and over until you feel as though you are calm."

The boy said nothing. He just closed his eyes before taking in deep breaths and fingered the hilt of his sword. After a few minutes he finally opened his eyes again before putting his hands into the ram seal. He focused chakra into the souls of his feet before placing his foot onto the surface of the tree trunk. The moment he felt his foot stick to the surface he lifted his other foot and, shakily, walked up the tree.

Saying Tenten was surprised would be like saying Gai hated the color green. It just wasn't possible. After only a simple calming exercise he was steadily able to clime a tree using chakra. She was so shocked that she didn't notice that the boy was on the same branch calling out to her.

"TENTEN!" yelled Naruto

Finally, getting out of her shock, she looked up to see Naruto grinning before asking "How was that?"

All Tenten did was stare at him for a moment before running up the tree and flicking him in the forehead. This caused the boy to loose his balance on the branch causing him to fall off and land face first into the dirt.

"When you can do that then I will be impressed." Said Tenten while trying her hardest not to laugh at the unfortunate blonde.

"DAMN YOU!! could be heard throughout the entire village which made a few people glace around to see where the voice had come from.

End Flashback

"By the way." Said a grinning Naruto "I've got something for you."

Now Tenten learned quite a few things when hanging around Naruto. One was that if you ever got on his bad side he would either hurt you or he would prank you. The fact that he had once TPed and stink bombed the whole Inuzuka clan house because three of there dogs attacked him while the owners did nothing but watch was truth of that.

The other was whenever he had that grin on his face it meant either he's up to something or he is about to do something. It's never clear which would occur all it meant was it would end badly in that person's case.

By now Tenten realized that Naruto was targeting her and was now sweating bullets. "Um…w-w-what is it n-n-Naruto?" asked the fearful Kunoichi

"THIS!" With that as the only warning he dove and tackled her to the ground before he began to…tickle her.

"AH haha-haha-ahah! Stop! Ahhah-ha n-nock it off! Ahhaha-haha." Laughed Tenten as Naruto tickled her sides.

"Payback sucks don't it?" asked Naruto while laughing hysterically

This lasted a few more moments before Naruto finally got off the poor girl and sat up waiting for the girl to catch her breath. When she did she glared at for a moment before breaking into a cute pout.

"That was cruel." Stated Tenten as she kept the pout

All this made Naruto's grin widen before standing up and dusting himself off. He lowered his hand down to help Tenten up. She gratefully took it and was heaved back to her feet. After she dusted herself off she saw he was looking at the sky.

"It's almost time for me to go. Otherwise I would be late." Said Naruto in a solemn tone

Tenten's face went downcast at that before she perked up at an idea. "Hey Naruto when you get back do you want to get something to eat or something." Asked Tenten blushing slightly

Naruto blushed at the question in all honesty he didn't know what to do. 'I always wanted to have my fist date with Sakura-chan. But I don't want to hurt her feelings like that teme does all the time. What do I do!' he thought franticly

That was when he heard a voice just barely above whisper say **"Take her offer." **Glancing around him he noticed that nobody was there. He decided to listen to the voice and answered "S-sure I'll meet you here when I get back. You can pick the place."

The girl's eyes lit up with happiness before smiling warmly at him and nodding her head. He was about to go when he felt two slender arms embrace him. His face now resembled that of a tomato because even **he **knew what those soft things touching his back were.

"Thanks Naruto-kun I'll see you when you get back." With that she let go and walked off into the forest with a big smile on her face.

"Ok…girls are weird." Said the blond boy as he rushed out of the training ground and also trying to get rid of his blush.

When the North gate finally came into view he relaxed before slowing to a stop. He saw that two of his teammates were already waiting. He sighed before placing his hand is pocket and…feeling a peace of paper. Pulling out the paper he found that it had a number, an address and on the very bottom was a small chibi form of Tenten smiling at him. Naruto chucked at the note before putting it back into his pocket for safe keeping.

Sasuke noticed this but decided not to comment since the last thing he needed was the dobe to be more of a pain than usual. So the three waited until, not five minutes after Naruto arrived, Kakashi showed up in a puff of smoke along with Tazuna on tow. The man grunted as the two huge doors opened. When they were finally opened completely team 7 stepped out of the village for first time in there lives and began there journey to wave.

**Time Skip Thirty Minutes**

They had now been walking for a while and they were all bored. The only thing that passed the time was a bit of chit-chat and a few questions regarding wave. As they continued walking they came across a particularly odd site. A puddle in the middle of the path when it hadn't rained in days. As they passed by the puddle Kakashi started tagging behind the group. Just after they passed two men emerged from the puddle both wearing deadly looking gauntlets on one arm.

The one with a black cloak threw his partner, who was dressed in black and grey camouflage, at his target. When the man landed he entangled Kakashi in a spiked chain that now covered the upper part of his body. With a fierce tug both of the dark assailants cut the jounin into nothing but little chunks of flesh. "One down." Said the two assailants together before speeding towards Naruto.

"Two down." Said the two together again. Just as they were about to entangle him in the deadly chain the hilt of a sword went strait into one of the men's chin. As soon as the other realized that his comrade was hit he was stuck by a strong kick to the face making him go off balanced as well. After catching them off guard Sasuke throws one shrunken that embedded itself into a nearby tree and a kunai to keep the chain in place.

When the assassins realized that their weapon was useless they detached the chain from their gauntlets and charged a different opponent. The one in the camouflage went for Naruto while the one with the cloak went for Tazuna. Sakura, doing rational thing, stood her ground in front of the bridge builder while holding a kunai in a defensive stance. Just as the man was about to slay the two of them he was stopped by Kakashi who had the man held in a headlock before slipping into unconsciousness. The Jounin looked over his shoulder to see Naruto and Sasuke standing over a severely cut and bruised body of the second assassin.

"Good work team you all did your part very well." Said Kakashi before turning over to Tazuna and regained his seriousness "Tazuna-san we have something to discuss."

The man nervously nodded before walking over to the man while Naruto and Sasuke started tying the two men up to a nearby tree. After getting some information out of both the men they had found out that not only where they the famous Demon Brothers but also that they were hired to kill Tazuna by a business man by the name of Gato.

They were now crossing the river sitting a small boat while one of Tazuna's friends steered the boat threw the mist.

"So from what you have just told us the bridge is the only way for your country to survive?" asked Kakashi

"Yes and that is why I went to Konoha. Our country didn't have the money for a B or A-rank mission but we had just enough to afford a C-rank one. It was our only choice and if you won't help me then all of wave will suffer." Said Tazuna while looking at the floor of the boat.

"Let do it!" Stated Naruto before being shushed by the rower. "Let's help these people. After all he did say they used everything they had to afford it so if we succeed then we would be doing them a big favor. Besides I'd rather do this than those damn D-rank missions."

Everyone just sat there in silence while all looking at the blond who was now laughing nervously. Suddenly Sasuke rose his hand before saying "I agree." Not long after Sakura did as well, albet, nervously. The Jounin sighed before eye smiling at Tazuna and saying "Well it looks like we're going to help out after all."

The man had to wipe a tear away for what these people were doing for him. In truth he was just going to give them a guilt trip and hope they would feel sorry for him and help but it seemed he didn't have to now.

"Tazuna this is as far as I can go." Whispered the rower as they approached the shore.

"Thanks, be sure to get home safely." Replied Tazuna before stepping onto the shore. The man nodded before pushing off and disappearing back into the mist.

"My home isn't far from here. We should be there in about thirty minutes." Said Tazuna

"Alright everyone keep your eyes open for anything suspicious." Ordered Kakashi.

The group nodded before setting off. As they walked Naruto noticed that something didn't feel right. He felt as though something watching them. Just then he heard something in a nearby bush. Out of reflex, Naruto pulled out a kunai and tossed it into the bush. After a few seconds of silence he cautiously walked over to the bush. He sighed when he saw that it was only a rabbit that he had almost hit.

"Its just a rabbit." Said Naruto before getting bonked on the head courtesy of Sakura

"You idiot! Stop putting us all on edge!" shouted Sakura

"Heh-heh sorry it was just out of reflex." Said Naruto while rubbing the back of his neck.

'That rabbit's coat is too white for this season. That would mean that it hasn't been outside for some time. So that means that the rabbit was used for _Kawarimi no Jutsu._" Thought Kakashi. Just then he heard the sound of something whizzing threw the air.

"Get down!" ordered Kakashi as he and the others ducked under a giant sword that embedded itself into a tree. Before they could even blink a man appeared on the hilt of the blade with his back facing them. He currently shirtless while he wore cow skinned bracers on his arms and legs while wearing baggy striped blue pants. (Again not good at descriptions of some outfits.)

"Well look what we have here. Momochi Zabuza of Kirigakure no Sato. Also know as the Demon of the Mist." Said Kakashi

"Heh didn't think I would have the honor to meet the famous Hatake Kakashi in person. Or should I say Copy Ninja Kakashi master of over a thousand jutsu." Stated Zabuza

"I take it you're here to kill Tazuna are you not?" asked Kakashi who started reaching to lift his hitai-ate.

"Yes I am. And if you step aside I'll let you and your bundle of brats live." Answered Zabuza

"Not happening you eyebrow-less freak!" Shouted Naruto while reaching for his sword.

"You got some very confident or very foolish students Kakashi." Sated Zabuza with a vein popping out of his forehead.

"Naruto this guy is way beyond you're level. Let me handle him while you three guard Tazuna." Said Kakashi as he pulls up his hitai-ate to reveal a red eye with three tomoes circling around the pupil.

"Oh so your using the Sharingan so soon Kakashi? Why I feel honored to be facing such a skilled opponent. None the less you will die today with or without that eye of yours." Said Zabuza

'Kakashi has the Sharingan?' Thought Sasuke as he stares at Kakashi curiously

Just then a heavy mist Zabuza pulled his blade out from the tree before disappearing in a burst of speed only to reappear on the surface of the water before calling out "_Kirigakure no Jutsu"._ In seconds the area was covered in a thick mist. The three genin surround Tazuna two holding kunai while the third was holding his sword out and ready.

"Liver, Lungs, Spine, Clavicle vein, Neck vein, Brain, Kidneys, Heart. Which one should I go after?" said Zabuza from within the mist. After that a huge amount of killing intent was directed at all the people in the area. Kakashi was calm while the genin were trembling in fear. Sasuke himself could barely keep hold of his kunai while Naruto's sword was shaking badly.

"Sasuke don't worry." Reassured Kakashi when he saw the boy about to kill himself. "I won't let anyone I know die if I can help it."

This caused Zabuza to scuff before appearing in the middle of the group. He swung his massive blade aiming to slice all three of them in half only to be disappointed when Kakashi knocked them out of the way. Without missing a beat the copy nin then turned and stabbed the missing nin in the stomach before realizing it was a Mizu Bunshin. He turned around to see Zabuza rearing back before swinging his blade again. This time it hit and it cut the jounin in half before he himself burst into water.

"Game over Zabuza." Said Kakashi as he placed a kunai at Zabuza's next. The man was shocked for a moment before chuckling lightly.

"So you made a Bunshin as you were talking to the brat. You really are a talented ninja aren't you?" asked Zabuza before bursting into water again.

Wide eyed Kakashi looked behind him to see the real Zabuza aiming to slice him in half again. When he swung Kakashi ducked under the blade while a bit of his hair was cut off in the process. When the blade stuck its self into the ground Zabuza switched arms before using the momentum and kicking the jounin in the chest sending the man flying.

Fortunately, for Kakashi, he landed in the nearby lake only to suspect that something was about to accrue. Before he could do anything he heard Zabuza behind him call out "_Suiro no Jutsu_" and was now trapped inside an orb of water.

"Shit." Cursed Kakashi before shouting out to his team "Listen you three I want you to take Tazuna and run away from here as fast as you can!"

The group looked back at there sensei in shock before looking back at Tazuna. Naruto looked back at his sensei again before saying "No way in hell Kakashi-sensei."

"You're our sensei and we are not leaving you behind." Continued Sakura

"And you said that those who abandon there friends are worse than scum." Finished Sasuke

"You brats are noble I'll give you that but you three are just a waist of my time." Said Zabuza while he made a hand seal. A few moments later a clone made of water arose and stood in front of the group. Sasuke looked over at Naruto for a moment and saw that the blonde had the same idea he did. Both nodded before charging forward towards the clone.

Said clone swung his blade at the two of them as they charged. Sasuke jumped over it while Naruto ducked before raising his blade in an attempt to stab the clone in the chest. The clone dodged the blade and landed kick on the blonde's jaw while he grabbed Sasuke midair by the neck with its free hand and threw him back towards Sakura and Tazuna. The clone then set its sights on Naruto before raising his blade aiming to cleave him in half.

The orange clad boy rolled out of the way just as the blade smashed into the ground. He leapt back to his feet and made a vertical swing on the clone still aiming to hit it. He gritted his teeth when the clone dodged the strike and leapt back to get some distance before the clone could strike again.

"You three are all pathetic. You call yourselves ninja? Don't make me laugh all your doing is playing a dangerous game. A game where your life is on the line." Said Zabuza

"Now its time for me to put an end of this little game we've been playing." Finished the clone before charging the group with incredible speed.

'Is this where I'm going to die?' Thought Naruto while holding the Tessaiga infrount of him. He looked back at Sakura who was now pale and shaking violently. 'No! I will protect Sakura-chan and the Jiji even if it causts me my life!'

Naruto waited for the clone as it approched before noticing that it was starting to slow down until it stopped as though someone had pushed pause in the middle of a movie. He blinked a few times before seeing that every thing was stiff still. He then noticed a figure approching. As the fingure came closer and closer he found that the fingure was a man who had silver hair and strainge colored eyes. The man stopped when he reached Naruto who was still holding the Tessaiga infront of him in case the man tryied to attack him.

Finally, after a few moment of silence the man spoke in a calm tone "So you are the one who contains Kyuubi-dono."

This made Naruto flinch slightly before he pointed the blade at the man's face before shouting "H-how do you know that!?

All the man did was chuckle before pushing the blade out of his face with his finger. "I know many things ningen. But from what I understand you wish to protect your friends do you not?" asked the man

This made Naruto's eyes soften before saying in a low tone "They are the only thing I have to call friends. Of course I would protect them. They are all I have besides the Hokage and Iruka-sensei."

The man kneeled before the boy before smirking and touching the sword. "This sword was once made for my son who has lived a life similar life to yours. It was meant to protect his loved ones from danger and to control his demonic blood. After he died I thought nobody would ever be worthy to even holding my sword again. I was wrong, you are worthy of using this sword and its now time for you to be able to use it to its fullest potential." Said the man before his eyes flashed dark red. When he did Naruto felt the sword pulse in his hand. He questionably looked up at the man only to find him walking away.

"Hey wait! What's your name?! asked Naruto

The man turned towards him before smirking "Inu no Taishou or Taishou for short." Replied Taishou before facing forward and walking away again.

When he was out of sight word began going back to normal. When he remembered what was going on Naruto found that the clone was about to swing his blade at him. He prepared to block until he felt the Tessaiga pulse again. Then the sword began to glow bright yellow before it started to become blinding. Everyone who was watching immediately shielded their eyes while the clone stopped its advancement and hid his eyes as well. When the yellow light faded everyone was awestruck at what they were seeing. The once plain old katana now looked like a giant fang about the same length as Zabuza's blade. Its blade curved slightly and his guard now gone and replaced with a patch of white fur.

Naruto was now dumbstruck by the sight that he was seeing. He now understood what made this sword so special. He made a few test swings and found that the sword was almost as light as when he had the katana. It practically weighed nothing akin to what something like this should weigh. He looked back at the clone who had snapped out of his stupor and charged him.

When the blades clashed Naruto found that not only was the fang long but it was very sharp. He knew this because when the missing nin's sword clashed with his the blade part of the sword had a huge chunk missing from where it had hit. This made the clone's eyes widen along with original's eyes widen to the point were they were in danger of popping out. .

Taking advantage of the clones shock Naruto quickly pushed back the clone's sword before swinging his fang at it. Naruto smirked when he saw the clone burst into water and fall to the ground. He then turned his sights on the original. He gripped the hilt tightly before dashing towards his opponent. The said man did nothing while he waited for the orange wearing boy to approach him knowing that the little brat most likely didn't know how to do water walking yet. His eyes threatened to pop out his sockets for the second time that day when Naruto started running on the water and towards him.

The man had little choice now than to release Kakashi before parrying from a downward strike from the massive sword. Naruto, who was now going on instinct, heaved his blade threw the water before bringing it up to try and cut the man in half. Zabuza managed to block the attack only to go skidding across the water in the process. He was now getting annoyed with him so Zabuza started doing seals before calling out _"Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu". _Just then a dragon made of pure water came forth from the lake and was glaring at Naruto with its yellow eyes.

Naruto was now starting to sweat. He doubted that even with the transformation the Tessaiga wouldn't stand a chance against this. Just as he thought he was a goner he heard a cry of "_Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu"_ from behind him. He turned to see Kakashi standing there as another dragon began to form. He was so mesmerized by the jutsu that he lost focus in his chakra going threw his feet that he immediately fell into the water.

After resurfacing he saw that the two dragons were gone and that the two jounin were now locked in a struggle over dominance between Zabuza's Zanbato and Kakashi's kunai. As it stood both were about equal. They jumped away from each other before both started doing the same movements.

'What's going on?' Thought Zabuza as he watched Kakashi closely

"This eye of mine is bugging you right?" asked Kakashi as he mimicked Zabuza who started to form seals.

This caused the missing nin to scowl. He was about to reply when he saw his own reflection beside Kakashi. 'What is going on?' Thought Zabuza

The man was so confused at this point that he didn't even requestor the fact that Kakashi had finished his seals and had called out "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu." He was finally brought out of his thought when he saw a vortex of water come flying towards him. The force behind the blast sent the man crashing into one of the trees nearby. Before he could even move he was impaled by four kunai all hitting him in the chest though hitting no critical areas.

"Kakashi c-can you see the future with that eye of yours?" asked Zabuza while looking up at Kakashi who was on the tree branch above him.

"Yes and this is going to be your last battle." Answered Kakashi as he prepared to finish off Zabuza. Just then three senbon needles truck the missing nin in his neck. Everyone turned to see a masked figure standing in a tree branch nearby.

"Thank you for the help. I've been tracking him for some time now and I am most grateful for your assistance." Thanked the masked ninja

"Hey who are you?" asked Naruto who had just climbed out of the lake.

"It's ok Naruto he's just a hunter ninja from Kiri." Said Kakashi as he jumped down and checked Zabuza's pulse. When he found none he sighed before looking over at the hunter nin. "He's all yours."

The hunter nin nodded before body flickering over to the body. He picked the lifeless corps and disappeared into the mist. Once he was gone the party all turned to Naruto who still had the Tessaiga transformed and had it hoisted onto shoulder. He blinked a few times before laughing sheepishly. "I don't know how to revert this thing back to normal yet." The moment those words left his lips the massive fang glowed before turning back to its original form. The boy looked at it before laughing nervously before sheathing the sword.

Kakashi sighed before pulling his hitai-ate down to cover his eye again. He did his signature eye smile and asked "Ok how much further from here Tazuna?"

"Only about five maybe six minutes away from here." Answered Tazuna with a huge smile.

"Alight let's get go-" Kakashi stopped mid sentence before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and collapsing on the ground. Everyone rushed over and saw that he was still breathing. All four of them sighed before Tazuna picked up the man and led the way to his home.

* * *

Well this chapter if finally done and as a bonus i also added a little fluff to it. I figured that now would be a good time to show what exactly Tenten helped him with. It took more time than I had expected but hey can't rush creativity. Also please forgive me if I got some of the Jutsu names wrong. Damn Wikipedia got rid of all the jutsu and only left a few good ones. If anyonne can find a site that has all the jutsu in Japanese terms please tell me.

_Kirigakure no Jutsu - _Hidden Mist Technique

_Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu - _Water Clone Technique

_Suiro no Jutsu _- Water Prison Technique

_Suiton: Suriyudan no Jutsu _- Water Release: Water Dragon Missile Technique

_Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu _- Water Release: Grand Waterfall Technique

R&R. If you don't I'll let Gai and Lee out of their cages. Not only that I'll make Naruto say the dreaded words of death over and over again. You have been warned.


	4. Preparations, Battles, and Awakenings

(I appear with a microphne) Yo SF88 here and sorry for the long wait but i had a hard getting this checked. Before we begin my frined here has a few words he like to say. Knock em dead kid. (Tosses Microphone to Soul of Guardian)

YO this is Soul of Guardian, and this is little bit-o-text is here to say that I'm the Beta(Soul does some dancing in the back, while doing an Elvis impression) Thankya thankya thankya very much! Ok I gtg see if I took my pills this this morning. I'll hand it over to Fang now. (Throws Microphone back at SF88 which hits him in the head and runs off)

BASTARD! oh well I had a feeling this would happen so I changed his pills to some other kind that gives him the shits. Anyway onward with the stroy.

"Speaking" Normal talking

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking" _Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or summon speaking

'**Speaking' **Kyuubi or summon thinking

_**"Speaking" Demonic Naruto Talking**_

I do not own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

It had been a day since they had encountered Zabuza and at the moment Kakashi was lying in bed. He had called for a team meeting while he himself was going over his thoughts over the fight.

'How did Naruto do that with his sword? It damaged Zabuza's blade pretty badly but that was just the clone. Is that blade really that powerful? There is also the fact he knows water walking. Most genin don't learn that until they are about a few months into there training. Well best ask him when I get a free moment.' Pondered Kakashi as he saw his team enter the small bedroom.

"How do you feel Kakashi-sensei?" asked a worried Sakura

"Sore. But it will pass in about a few days." Said Kakashi reassuringly

"So what do we do now that no brow is dead?" asked Naruto with a grin

"Honestly I don't know if he is or not Naruto." Answered the Jounin "The nin that took him out used a fairly odd weapon to kill him with."

"What do you mean?" questioned Sasuke who was leaning on the wall

"He used senbon needles to strike him in the neck." Stated Kakashi

"Wait you said senbon right?" asked Naruto suddenly. When Kakashi nodded the boy smacked himself in the forehead. "Damn it why did I notice that!" cried the frustrated blonde.

When he noticed the questionable glances he elaborated "Senbon are used primarily for acupuncture, not for killing. Sure you can kill someone if you hit them in the right place but if not then they're just a big annoyance."

He saw the surprised looks on everyone's faces when he finished his statement. He sighed before stating "My friend is a weapon's specialist. She gave me some tips and even helped me pick up on a few things." This seemed to ease there shock before looking back at Kakashi as he sat up before going into a thinking pose.

"Naruto I think you just confirmed my suspicions about that hunter ninja. It is clear to me now that he was in league with Zabuza who is most likely still alive." Said Kakashi

This caused everyone in the room to flinch at the thought of that man still living. Just then the door slid open to reveal Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter, who looked rather worried.

"Is everything ok?" she asked while noticing how tense the three looked.

"Yes maim. I was just about to assign these three their training for the time being." Answered Kakashi as he gave her his eye smile.

"Why bother Gato's men will end up killing you anyway." Said a small boy as he glared at them all.

"Inari; don't be rude to are guests. They are the ones that brought home your grandfather after all." Scolded Tsunami

"It still doesn't matter since they are going to die anyway." Stated Inari before walking up the stares.

Tsunami sighed and looked back at the group apologetically before leaving the room towards the kitchen. Kakashi sighed as he grabbed his crutches and slowly led the way outside the house. The group followed along silently as they walked into the nearby woods before stopping in the middle of a clearing.

"Ok this is where we will be doing your training." Said Kakashi

"So what are going to be doing?" asked Naruto excitedly

"Tree climbing." He answered lazily

"What do you mean I already know how to climb trees!" yelled Naruto

"Can you do it without using your hands?" asked Kakashi before putting his hands into a ram seal. He then slowly made his way up the tree and finally stopped as he hung there upside down on a tree branch.

"Yes actually I can watch." With that he did the same seal as Kakashi before casually placing his foot on the trunk of the tree. The moment he did he dashed up the tree before flicking the Jounin on the metal part of his hitai-ate.

"Huh I guess you really do know how to do it then." Murmured Kakashi "Alright then you explain to them how its done then I will help you with the next step with this training."

"How will any of this help us in the long run?" asked Sasuke

"Because teme the better chakra control you get, the less extra chakra you use up when you use jutsu. For this exercise to work you must focus chakra to the bottom of your feet then just climb up the tree. I would say walk up the tree first so you can adjust the amount of chakra needed for your foot to stick to the tree. Oh and use your kunai to mark your progress trust me it's a pain to try and remember how far you got up the tree." Said Naruto as he entered his first ever lecture mode.

"Impressive. Did you learn this from your friend as well?" asked Kakashi

"Yeah and a few other things like basic sealing, better weapon accuracy, trap making, some more advanced Kenjutsu katas, and some cooking skills." Said Naruto with a grin

"Cooking?" asked Sakura as she sat on a nearby branch

"Wow! I can't believe you got up here so quickly Sakura-chan! It took me almost a week to finally master tree climbing. And yeah she taught me some better cooking habits since she said that ramen wasn't healthy to eat all the time. Though I usually eat ramen for lunch I do cook my own food for breakfast and dinner." Said Naruto as his grin grew wider.

"Oh" was all she said before looking down at the seething Sasuke.

"Alright Naruto lets get you started on your next exercise." Said Kakashi as he slowly went down the tree with Naruto following him in the same slow pace. When the two got out of the clearing they began to make their way towards the pear behind Tazuna's house. He finally stopped as he neared the end of the pear.

"Now before we begin I want to ask you something Naruto." Said Kakashi seriously "Where did you get that sword and how did it transform?"

Naruto sighed before looking back at his sensei calmly "Do you remember the forbidden scroll incident?" When he saw his sensei nod he continued "Well I had released it from the scroll thinking it was something else. As for how my sword transformed it was because I was protecting Sakura-chan and Tazuna."

"How does that work?" asked Kakashi with a raised eyebrow

Naruto just shrugged before stating "That's just how the sword works. I don't know much else about it other than the fact that its name is Tessaiga."

Kakashi looked at him skeptically for a moment then gave him a look that said 'Better not be lying' before looking back at the water.

"Alright I want you tell me how good you are with the water walking exercise." Ordered Kakashi

"Well I know that I must constantly expel the right amount of chakra to my feet and make it match the correct amount to make me float. Problem is even if I loose focus for even a second I fall strait back into the water." Explained Naruto

'His friend must be a really good teacher if he can get this far this quickly.' Thought Kakashi "Well I think you should create some clones and practice your Kenjutsu while doing the water walking exercise." Stated Kakashi

"What! Do you have any idea how hard that is? Its hard enough for me to stand on the water let alone train in Kenjutsu while doing it!" Shouted Naruto as he started waving his hand randomly in the air.

"Trust me Naruto if you can do this then you will be a great asset during the fight." Said Kakashi reassuringly while placing a hand on the boy's shoulder

Naruto just looked back up at his sensei for a moment then grinned and nodded. The boy then turned around before focusing chakra into his feet before commencing with the exercise.

'Naruto…I know I wasn't there back then when you needed someone.' Thought Kakashi as he watched the blond fall into the water. 'But maybe I can make it up to you. Even if it isn't that much I will still help you like I should have back then…just like sensei would have wanted.' Continued Kakashi as a small smile started to appear behind his mask.

"Alright! I finally got the hang of this damn exercise!" Shouted Naruto before scolding. He then noticed that he wasn't underwater and looked down to see that he was still floating above water. The boy grinned before running back to the pear. He picked up his sword off the dock then made his way back to where he was once standing. He quickly made twelve clones before unsheathing his sword. The others copied his actions before charging him in a burst of speed.

The original just smirked then ducked under one of the incoming clones before slicing him in half. As the clone puffed away Naruto turned around and stabbed another that was attempting to sneak up on him. The moment the clone disappeared another one popped out from the smoke that came from the previous clone's death. It swung its sword downwards in an attempt to cleave him in half before it was blocked by Naruto's own blade. He then pushed upward so as to knock the attacking clone away before turning to his left to deflect an incoming kunai. He then charged the clone while dragging his sword threw the water in the process.

Right as he was reaching striking distance he saw from the corner of his eye another clone making a horizontal strike aiming to cut Naruto in half. Once he saw this he quickly stopped the flow of chakra in his feet making him fall into the water. He looked up to see that the clone that intended to hit him, had hit the clone he was aiming to kill. Naruto quickly swam to the surface before refocusing chakra to his feet and climbed back onto the water. The moment he was up he had four clones surround him all of which were smirking with their blades at the ready.

Naruto sighed and started to raise his hand in defeat. At the last minute he thought about Tenten and how she would scold him every time he gave up telling him he could always do better. He let a small smile grace his features at those thoughts 'I would protect her just as she would for me.' Thought the blond before feeling a familiar pulsing coming from his sword. Just then a bright light came from the blade before it grew and a patch of white fur was once again visible to him.

Naruto smirked when he saw their shocked faces. Taking advantage of the situation, Naruto quickly did a 360 spin while cutting every clone in half in the process. Only one clone snapped out of it quickly enough to survive the attack before pointing an accusing finger at the original before shouting "HEY that's cheating!"

"Ninja don't play by the rules baka!" shouted the original before cleaving the poor clone in half.

Just as Naruto was getting back into his stance he noticed that Tsunami was standing on the edge of the pear smiling at him. He dismissed his clones and made his way back to the edge of the pear before asking "Yes Tsunami-chan."

"Dinner is ready. I would have told you earlier but I didn't want to interrupt your training." Answered the woman while still smiling.

Naruto just laughed while scratching the back of his head before sheathing his sword not realizing that the sword had reverted back to normal as he sheathed it.

This was how things went for Naruto and his team as they stayed in wave. Sasuke, who had managed to learn tree climbing in three days, was now learning how to walk on water along with Sakura who had been given the task of watching over the bridge builder while Sasuke did tree climbing. They had also learned about Kaiza, the hero of wave, as the locals called him. The said man was executed in front of everyone as an example to never fight against Gato. This is what lead Inari to believe that nobody could stand against Gato.

All this did was make the group train harder than before. Right now though, the team was sitting down at the table waiting for dinner to be served. Naruto, who had nearly drowned after passing out while training on the water, was resting his head on the table. As he was Inari was glaring at the boy before an image of Kaiza appeared next to the blonde.

Suddenly the boy slammed his hands on the table with tears streaming down his eyes and yelled "Why do you try so hard! All you're going to do is get yourselves killed by Gato and his men! No matter what glorious claims you make or how hard you train when facing the strong the weak will only end up getting killed!" This action made everyone at the table look at the boy in surprise.

The blonde scuffed before replying "Whatever kid I'm not like you."

"I'd hate to be like you! You don't know anything about this country yet you're all being so nosey about it! What the hell do you know about me anyway!? I'm different from you, your always clowning around and acting so cheerful, you don't know how hard life can be!" Shouted Inari as more tears started to pore down his face.

Now if there was one thing that Sasuke and Sakura knew about the blond it was that he was very touchy around this subject. It happened once and that was enough for everyone to stay weary of entering this topic with the blond. It happened when a student in the academy had made fun of him because he had no parents or friends along with the fact that most of the older people hated him.

That kid had left the same day with two broken legs, three busted ribs, a fractured right arm, two black eyes, a busted lip, and a sever head trauma. Needless to say after that nobody **ever** made fun of him for not having family or friends. The academy even tried to expel him only to fail when the Hokage stated that boy was harassing Naruto with his endless taunting. Everyone knew it was a lie but they were just too scared at the time to say anything.

Naruto looked up at the crying boy and glared at him while releasing some killing intent in the process. "You think you have it bad kid?" asked Naruto with a slight chuckle "Kid let me ask you something. Do you have a mother? Do you have to pay triple for almost everything even when they are the most outdated things on the market? Do you have people that love you more than **anything** in this world?" when the boy didn't answer he yelled "ANSWER ME!"

"Y-y-yes." Muttered a now terrified Inari

"Exactly. You have a mother who loves you, a grandfather that is risking his life to build a bridge to save this country and what are you doing? You're sitting in your room crying over a dead man and doing nothing to contribute to your family. So don't you **dare** tell me your life is bad because there are always people out there who have it worse than you do. So you go back to your room and cry all you want because I will not let some little brat say he has it bad when he really doesn't." said Naruto before grabbing his sword and walking outside while slamming the door behind him.

Nobody spoke for several minutes before finally Tazuna looked at Kakashi before asking "Is his life that bad?"

Kakashi slumped his shoulders before answering "Unfortunately yes it is. He never knew either of his parents and didn't have a single friend growing up. A lot has happened to him while he was still young but I don't want to tell you since it's not my business to share with you. All I can tell you is that you should never bring that topic up unless he wants to talk about it."

**Out in the Woods**

"The stars look great tonight." Said the blonde as he looked up at the night sky. Another thing that most people didn't know was that Naruto always loved looking up at the sky. It was one of the few things he could do without someone getting angry at him for doing it. Now though he just didn't have the same feeling for it that he usually does.

"Stupid brat." Said Naruto as he gripped the Tessaiga tighter

He didn't hate the boy for what he said. If anything he felt sorry for the boy. But the boy had brought back some rather painful memories. He sighed again as he gazed back up at the nights sky from his position on the grass before closing his eyes and let sleep take him.

**Dream World**

Cold, that was what he was feeling at the moment. He cracked his eyes open only to see an endless darkness and pipes. He blinked a few times before noticing that he was laying in cold water. Naruto slowly got back to his feet and saw that he was apparently in a sewer of some sort.

"**If you can hear this please than understand; that my life is now in the palm of your hand." **Said a familiar voice.

Naruto glanced around and saw that there were several corridors scattered around the area. Just as he was about to go into one of the corridors he head the voice speak again.

"**My sadness will only continue to grow; as long as you leave me behind in your shadow." **Continued the voice.

'That way!' thought Naruto as he rushed towards the voice. As he ran he noticed that the further he ran the more the darker it got.

"**I can never be what all of you see; the only thing I can truly be is me." **Said the voice that sounded very feminine to Naruto.

'Why does this sound so familiar?' Thought Naruto as he stopped at another set of corridors.

"**Even that is not real in this lifetime but what could you expect in a life like mine." **Said the now obviously feminine voice.

The blonde didn't even wait for her to finish before running to the corridor where the voice was coming from. He saw that he was nearing the end of the corridor and ran faster than before. When he reached the end of the corridor he stopped dead in his tracks fell on his knees at what he saw.

"**So all have to say is don't forget; what this smile means and what lies behind it." **Said the voice from behind the cage. That wasn't what shocked him to the core. It was the sight of him being held up by chains smiling strait at him. But it wasn't his smile, it was a smile of a crazed lunatic ready to kill everyone.

Naruto stared up at the hanging boy before him and felt tears going down his face. He couldn't look at this…thing that was called him he just couldn't do it. He wanted to get up but just couldn't. Then he felt someone from behind embrace him in a hug. This little action snapped him out of his stupor long enough to make him face the figure behind him.

When he turned he saw a beautiful woman with a decently sized bust kneeled down to his level. She had dark red hear that went down to her lower back and had eyes that were a dark pink color with slitted pupils. She had on a pink kimono with light purple flower pebbles decorated all around the front of the outfit with a dark purple sash wrapped around her waist. The woman got to her feet and not only revealed her hourglass figure but also her nine orange colored tails swaying behind her. The woman moved her hand to cup his cheek before smiling sadly at him. She gently wiped away the tears from his eyes with her claws before embracing him into another hug.

"**This is your path now." **Said the woman **"What you saw before you is what you will become if you succumb to your dark desires." **

The poor boy was so upset at the sight he saw that he couldn't even say a word. All he did was continue to cry on the woman's should as she rubbed his back in an attempt to soothe him. Finally, after crying for a few moments, he managed to ask "W-w-why did this have to me?"

It was a censer question. Why did he have to deal with more burdens than anyone else? Did kami hate him? Was it his destiny to have these burdens placed upon him? After all he had suffered for something he had no control over for twelve years and only recently found out why they hated him. Was it fair to something like this to someone who never even knew his own family to haft to live this way?

"**Because…that is what makes you stronger than anyone else…even me." **Said Kyuubi as she muttered the last part.

After hearing that Naruto got out of her embrace and looked the fox mistress strait in the eye. She saw distrust, sadness, hate, and longing. At first she believed that the boy was useless and was not worth any of her time. But as she watched his life go on she realized that she had started feeling something she hadn't felt in centuries…guilt. It was such a foreign emotion that she ended up crying at some nights when Naruto was beaten or was alone. It just hurt her to much to watch a child struggle and do little to nothing to help him.

She was surprised to see him move his finger over to her face before wiping away a lone tear falling down her face. He smiled sadly at her before saying in a reassuring tone "Don't cry…I don't deserve it." As he said that his form began to fade away into the air and making him look as though he was never there like a mirage. Before he left however, she did something he would never forget. She kissed him on the lips before he disappeared into nothingness.

"Do you think it was wise to bring him here so soon?" asked Taishou as he came out of the shadows

Kyuubi smiled sadly before looking back up at the mad looking Naruto who was still smiling at them. **"It was the only way he would understand. If I had not brought him here and shown him this he would accidentally cause harm on that village." **She answered solemnly

Taishou nodded before walking over to the fox mistress and gently grasped her shoulder. "I trust your judgment Kyuubi-dono. Just don't let your feelings towards him blind you in the future. Whatever he decides to do is his choice now and no one else's"

Kyuubi nodded before wiping away a few more stray tears and made her way to her cage were there lay only three things. A decently sized bed barely enough room for two, a small dresser, and a picture. She grabbed the picture before hugging it close to her body as she could before getting into bed. Just as she was about to fall asleep a small tear went down her face as she mumbled one word "**Naruto-kun" **and the tear fell on the picture of Naruto smiling his true smile while sitting at Ichiraku for the first time.

**Real World**

Naruto snapped his eyes open and shot himself up. He looked around franticly before sighing. After shaking his head he took the moment to take a better glace at his surroundings. It didn't take long for him to realize that he was still in the clearing he fell asleep at. He climbed back to his feet and was about to walk back to the house until he heard the sound of a women screaming.

'Shit!' thought the blond before speeding off towards the house. When he arrived he saw the sight of Inari charging the two samurai that had Tsunami tied up behind them. Thinking quickly rushed over and _Kawarimi_ Inari with a log as he went and got Tsunami out of harms way.

The two samurai smirked as they killed what they thought was Inari. When they realized that they didn't hit there target they turned to see Naruto untying Tsunami calmly while Inari looked shocked to still be alive. This made both men furious and without thinking charged the blond. As they got closer to their target they found that the blond was now smirking. Before they could even question this they were hit in the back of the necks with a very blunt object which caused them to pass out.

Naruto smiled as he did his job before looking down at Inari. "Good job Inari. If you didn't distract them I would have never gotten your mother to safety!" said Naruto while ruffling the young boy's hair. "Remember hero's always show up at the last minute!"

The boy didn't say anything for a moment then he began to grin at the orange clad ninja. Naruto grinned back before looking in the direction of the bridge. 'If these goons are attacking this place, then that means that Zabuza decided to attack today. Damn it I got to get going.' Thought Naruto. He turned back to Inari before saying "Tie these two up and stay here ok." When he saw the boy nod he raced off again while praying that his team was alright.

**At the bridge **

When Kakashi and the rest arrived at the bridge they found most of the workers injured. Just then a thick mist began to cover the bridge until almost nothing was visible. That was when they heard someone laughing in the mist.

"Zabuza," said Kakashi as he prepared to lift his hitai-ate.

"Hello there Kakashi. I see your missing a brat. It doesn't matter since I'll kill him after I finish you three off." Stated Zabuza from the mist

"That's coming from someone hiding in a mist." Muttered Sasuke

That was when they found that they were surrounded by Mizu Bunshins of Zabuza. Sasuke smirked and dashed off killing all the clones that surrounded them.

"He's fast; looks like you might have a rival in speed Haku." Said Zabuza as the hunter nin came into view.

"That may be indeed Zabuza-sama." Said Haku impassively

"I got that one Kakashi-sensei." Said Sasuke as he pulled out a fresh kunai

"Fine then, I will handle Zabuza. Sakura I want you to guard Tazuna and don't let anyone get close." Ordered Kakashi

"Hai" replied Sakura

With that Sasuke sped off and went to cut the boys neck which the hunter nin blocked with one of his senbon. He pushed the boy's kunai away before attempting to hit the pressure point in the Uchiha's arm. The said Uchiha ducked under the boy's attack and did a sweep kick hoping to knock the masked boy off balance. Haku saw this and jumped over the kick and threw the senbon he was holding at his opponent. Sasuke simply rolled to the side avoiding the projectile before striking the off guard opponent only to clash with his senbon again.

"It seems I have you trapped." Said Haku calmly.

"How do you figure that?" asked Sasuke

"For one we are surrounded by water that was made by those clones you killed. Two is that you have one of your hands occupied. I on the other hand-" stated the boy as he started to do seals with his free hand. Just then he stomped on the ground kicking up some water before it turned into several sharp ice sickles floating in the air.

"_Sensatsu Suishou" _announced Haku before jumping away to safety. When he finally skidded to a stop he saw that the boy was no longer there and was shocked when he felt Sasuke behind him. Sasuke made a attempt to strike the enemy only for the attack to be blocked again. Expecting this he threw the kunai in his other hand forcing the boy to duck only to receive a kick to the face by Sasuke.

"Impressive, you taught him pretty well." Commented Zabuza as Haku got back to his feet. "Haku I think its time to stop playing and start getting serious."

The boy nodded before forming a seal. A few moment later mirrors started to appear all around Sasuke. The said boy was so confused that he didn't even notice that Haku had entered one of the mirrors until he saw that all the mirrors had Haku's reflection scattered around him. Haku raised a senbon before throwing it at Sasuke. Soon after two more were thrown before a barrage of senbon were being thrown at the Uchiha.

"Sasuke!" shouted Kakashi as he tried to approach the dome of mirrors only to dodge swing that was aimed at him from Zabuza.

"Sorry Kakashi, but I won't let you interrupt there battle. Though I could let you go, that would leave the old man and the girl completely open for attack." Stated Zabuza as he began to chuckle.

Just then a kunai came flying towards the dome of mirrors only to be caught by the masked boy.

'Where did this-' Haku's thought were interrupted as an orange blur flew past him and making a shallow cut in his mask. Everyone turned to see Naruto standing in the middle of the dome with his blade unsheathed and glaring at the masked boy.

"D-dobe?" asked Sasuke as he tried to move without hurting himself further.

Naruto turned to face his rival before gritting his teeth in anger. Sasuke looked like he just went threw a hell hole and back. Forgetting Haku for a moment he kneeled down and started pulling out senbon.

"How honorable." Said Haku as he returned to his mirrors. He then brought out a few senbon and tossed them at the two boys. Both screamed in pain at the sharp projectiles that were piercing their skin.

"What were you thinking?!" hissed Sasuke as he tried to get to his feet again.

"I was trying to get you out of here. I guess that cut wasn't deep enough." Said Naruto

The two boys glanced around the dome for any weak spots. Finding none Sasuke went threw a few seals before in hailing. _"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu"_ A second later a giant fireball was brought forth hitting the mirrors dead on. After the fire cleared it revealed as though nothing had changed.

"It will take more than a weak Katon jutsu to melt these mirrors." Stated Haku as he prepared to throw more senbon at him. Just when he was about to a giant fang came towards the mirror he was in. Speeding off into another mirror he barely managed to avoid the giant blade that shattered his mirror as thought it was nothing. Turning his attention to blond, who was now holding a giant fang in his hand, he threw several senbon at him only for them to bounce harmlessly off his blade which he was using as a shield. Though he was still hit the blade took the majority of the damage.

Haku was about to throw more at the orange clad boy only to be forced to dodge a fireball that was heading in his direction. Now he was getting irritated with them. He sent another barrage at them only to see that both had their own way to block his attack. Naruto was blocking with his sword and Sasuke was using a senbon to deflect the others coming at him.

'If I don't end this quickly I will run out of chakra before I can beat them.' Thought Haku as he studied his opponents. That was when he noticed that Sasuke's eyes were not the same. 'H-he unlocked his bloodline!'

'I-its not completed yet, but I can still see his movements clearer than I did before.' Thought Sasuke as he watched Haku closely.

Haku was now thinking a mile a minute. He knew that he couldn't keep up his jutsu for much longer and with Sasuke unlocking his bloodline it only made things harder to do. He looked over at Naruto who was panting while gripping his arm. Apparently he had hit a pressure point in the boy's arm making it either numb or useless.

'That's it!' thought Haku as he dashed towards the blond while throwing senbon as he sped forward. Sasuke saw this and rushed to stop the attack. A few seconds later the only thing that was heard was a body hitting the ground and something piercing skin.

Naruto looked over to his right to see Haku motionless on the ground. "You did it Sasuke!" said Naruto as he turned to face his comrade. The moment he did he saw that Sasuke looked just about dead. When Sasuke turned to face him he saw that his eyes looked glazed and had blood coming from his mouth.

"You look like a real baka right now." Said Sasuke as he looked back at his teammate

"S-sasuke you-" stammered the blond before finally yelling "I didn't ask you to save me!"

All this did was make the Uchiha chuckle before saying "I don't even know why I saved your worthless hide. My body just moved on its own." A few seconds after he finished he felt himself loose balance and fall backwards only to be bought by his blond teammate.

"I-I don't want to die here. I need to complete my dream and kill that man." Said Sasuke as he looked up at his teammate he began to close his eyes before saying only three words "Don't die…Naruto." Before closing his eyes completely.

Naruto sat there holding the body of his teammate. He didn't even bother to look at the masked hunter nin as he got back to his feet.

'I-I failed.' Thought Naruto as he held Sasuke's body tighter. 'I failed to protect my friend. I might have hated him but he was still my friend.'

"He was a true shinobi, to risk his life for the sake of his comrade." Commented Haku as he entered his mirrors again.

"Be S**ilent" **said something that sounded like Naruto and someone else.

**Inside Naruto's Mind**

"**Do you really think this is the right thing to do?" **asked Kyuubi

Taishou nodded before walking over to a light blue flame. He placed his hand overtop of it until it started to turn white. He gestured her over to do the same and, hesitantly, did so. She placed her hand over top the white flame and focused a small bit of her Yokai into the flame. Almost instantly the white flame turned into a light orange color.

When the procedure was complete she turned to the fellow demon and asked **"Why now? Cant you see he isn't in the state of mind to face something like this?"**

"If we did not do it at this time we would have to wait until he has entered this state of mind again. Though it is with risks we cannot allow this opportunity to slip." He said coldly

"**I know that." **Said the fox mistress **"But I don't want to force something upon him that he may never want." **She finished with a small tear going down her cheek.

Taishou's eyes softened as he watched her. "I understand but this is something that must be done." he stated before turning around and leaving the chamber leaving Kyuubi alone.

She stared at the light orange flame in front of her before getting up and walking towards the exit. As she was about to leave she looked back at the flame before saying **"Forgive me Naruto-kun."** And closing the door.

**Outside World**

Haku watched as the blond boy fell to the ground screaming in pain. A few moments later red chakra began to pour out of the blonde's body. He could hear bones breaking and could see the boy's body grow. Again he heard the boy scream in pain as his whole form began to change and grow at a miraculous rate. That was when he saw the boy's hair grow longer, his canes grow into fangs and his finger-nails turn into claws. When the blond stopped screaming the red chakra began to reseed back into the seal.

When it did Haku found that the area around Naruto was burned at had scorch marks. That wasn't what shocked him though. There, standing before him, was Naruto who was only clad in his orange pants which looked tattered and burned. His hair, no longer blond short and spiky, but silver colored hair with rusty orange highlights with its length reaching past his shoulder blades. His whisker marked cheeks were now replaced with three red marks. His eyes, now gold with slitted pupils, glared at Haku before reaching for his sword. He heaved it up pointing it at Haku before muttering one word.

"_**Die**_

Just then the mirror Haku was hiding in was shattered into pieces before melting into nothingness. Haku, on his part, was shocked at his speed before rushing off into another mirror and throwing a barrage of senbon at him. Naruto just looked at the senbon approaching him before they began to melt.

'What!' thought Haku franticly

"_**Your little mirror trick is nothing compared to my speed."**_ Said Naruto as he sung his blade to the side. Just then all the mirrors on that side of the dome were shattered leaving Haku shocked and speechless. _**"You will die today…wretch." **_

He sped towards Haku at inhuman speed and cleaved the mirror in half before it shattered to pieces. Haku then appeared out of one of the shards of the broken mirror and tried to stab the silver haired boy with his senbon. At the last moment Naruto lifted his hand and grabbed the boy by the neck and held him in place as he stared at him.

After staring at the blank mast he shook his head before saying _**"Too slow, seems like you not even trying at all." **_When he finished he let go of his neck only to grab his face and toss him threw a mirror with such force that when he landed on the bridges surface he made a small creator.

'This boy…' thought Haku as he saw Naruto approaching with Tessaiga heaved onto his shoulder. 'He's too strong for me Zabuza-sama.' Finished Haku as Naruto looked down at him. He pulled the boy by the collar of his shirt before stabbing the Tessaiga into the ground.

"_**Let's see the face of my comrade's killer before I send him to hell." **_Said Naruto coldly as he removed the blank mask with his free hand. The moment the mask was removed he dropped Haku back on the ground before stuttering. "_**Y-y**_ou!"

Flashback

Naruto was sitting down on the ground in the middle of the woods panting. Next to him a still transformed Tessaiga lay on the grass. He had decided he was going to start practicing with his sword's new transformation state and see how good it was. So far he found that it was sharp enough to cut a tree in half, it weighed little to nothing to him, and that it was impossible to break.

He had just finished his seventh hour of practicing with the blade and was feeling like having his fourth break from training. He grabbed the blade and sheathed in back into its sheath before falling on his back and staring up at the clouds. Just as he started to relax he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him from behind.

Naruto turned around to see a beautiful black haired woman who looked around his age. She was wearing a pink dress with a red chocker around her neck. She looked at him with her dark brown eyes before smiling sweetly at him.

Naruto blushed slightly as she smiled at him. Trying to hide it he grins slightly before waving at her. "Hello!"

"Hello" replied the woman before walking towards him. When she reached him she kneeled down and asked "What are you doing out here?"

Naruto grinned again before holding up the sheathed sword. "Training I'm trying to get better at my kenjutsu at the moment."

The woman raised an eyebrow before asking "Are you trying to become a samurai?"

"No-well kinda, I'm already a ninja. I just want to be a master at kenjutsu since I don't have much else other than this sword." Answered Naruto while scratching the back of his head nervously.

The woman nodded her head in understanding before saying "My name is Haku by the way."

"Uzumaki Naruto and its great to meet you Haku-chan." Replied Naruto.

The woman, now known as Haku, smiled slightly before asking "Why do you want to become a Kenjutsu master Naruto-kun?"

The blond thought about it for a moment. Why did he want to become a Kenjutsu master anyway. That was when flashes of him laughing with Tenten and a smiling Sakura came into his mind. He looked back at Haku before answering "I want become a master so that I can protect those who are precious to me." Haku was surprised slightly at his seriousness before smiling sadly at him. She climbed back to her feet and began to walk off.

Naruto was now confused at her actions. 'Was it something I said?' thought the blond.

Just when the woman was about to leave the clearing she turned to face him and said "You will be truly strong someday." Before turning back and leaving the clearing.

End Flashback

Naruto stood there in silence as he looked at the raven haired woman in front of him. As he stared his silver hair began to change back into its previous color while maintaining its length. His once golden eyes now changing back into there previous sapphire color while also keeping his pupils slitted.

Naruto continued to stare at Haku in shock before asking the top question on his mind. "Why?"

Haku only stared at the ground as she didn't want to answer him. Truthfully she was not trying to kill him. Still it didn't make it any easier to do what she had done to him. She looked up into his eyes and saw many emotions flowing threw them. She saw pain, guilt, anger, and sorry all flash threw those beautiful blue eyes and just couldn't help but look back at the bridge floor.

"I did it for Zabuza-sama." Answered Haku while still looking at the ground.

The blond gritted his teeth before picking her up and slapping her across the face. "Why would you do something like this for someone who only uses you as a tool?" asked the blond as he watched her struggle to get back to her feet.

"Because...he was the only person who gave me a purpose to live." Said Haku sadly

The blond was silent after he heard that comment. He lowered his as his longer bangs hid his face from her view. Finally, after what seemed like forever he spoke.

"It seems you have had a horrible life as well. You think that if nobody accepts you then there is no point to living and that is why you follow Zabuza. Because he gave you that acceptance you longed for even if you were to be used as a tool you still followed him." Said Naruto as tears fell down his face.

Naruto knew he hit the mark when he saw her eyes flash with sadness. That was when he remembered that poem he heard in his dream.

"For those who hear this please understand that my life is now in the palm of your hand. My sadness will only continue to grow, so long as you leave me behind in your shadow. I can never be what all of you see, the only thing I can truly be is me. Even that is not real in this lifetime, but what could you expect with a life like mine. So all ask is to never forget, what this smile means and lies behind it." When he was finished he noticed that Haku was now shedding tears while looking into his eyes.

He was about to speak again when he heard the sound of what sounded like lightning. Both turned in the direction of the sound and saw that Zabuza was being held down by five dogs while Kakashi was holding what looked like lightning in his hands.

Turning back to Haku he saw that she had made a seal and looked back at him for the last time before whispering "I'm sorry." and disappearing into a mirror of ice.

'Shit' thought Naruto as he raced over to stop Kakashi from attacking. He knew he wouldn't make it in time to stop him so the only other option was to-.

"**Use the sheath." **Whispered a voice. Not questioning the voice he quickly unbuckled the sheath from his waistband and pumped chakra into his feet so he could block the jounin's jutsu.

Just when Kakashi was about to stab the missing nin in the heart a yellow blur appeared in front of him and knew that it was Naruto. He tried to stop his advancement but he was too late to stop it. He watched as the blond boy raised the sheath of his sword and was shocked when it began to glow before the _Raikiri_ had stuck it.

He was shocked to note that the sheath was actually blocking the attack and what was more surprising was that it was actually pushing the jounin back. A few seconds later the attack had faded leaving Kakashi's palm touching the sheath of his student's blade.

Before anyone could say anything a loud tapping noise could be heard threw out the area. When even one turned they saw a stubby little man standing at the end of bridge with a black business suit on, red sunglasses, a cane, and one arm in a cast. Behind him stood hundreds of bandits armed to the teeth with weapons all smiling smugly at the group of ninjas before them.

"Some demon, you couldn't even get rid of a few brats and an old man." Sneered the business man.

"Gato; what are you doing here?" asked Zabuza while glaring at the short man

"Well you see Zabuza hiring ninja is just too expensive for my tastes. So I figured I would just wait till you all were worn out then come finish the job." Stated Gato before look at Haku "And it looks like me and the other get to have a little fun with the bitch after all." Finished Gato as he and some of the other bandits started to snicker.

"Little bastard!" snarled Naruto

"Kakashi, it seems as though I'm fired so that means we're not enemies an longer." Said Zabuza

"Hai" replied Kakashi as the dogs let go of Zabuza and puffed away.

"Little fucking _**bastard!" **_Shouted Naruto as his hair turned silver and his eyes turned gold again. Zabuza and Kakashi were staring wide eyed at Naruto who was now radiating killing intent at the stubby little man. Said man was now shaking and decided now would be a good time to leave. The short man ran into crowd and shouted "Kill them all!" before heading towards the boat that was at the end of the bridge.

In a flash Naruto was back to where his sword was posted and heaved it out of the ground. He walked back to where his sensei was standing and stopped when he was beside the man.

"_**Don't interfere with this sensei. I want to kill that man myself." **_Said Naruto as he stared at the crowd of bandits.

"I-is that really-" Kakashi was cut off by Naruto who had held out his finger. He then started tapping on his hitai-ate with the same finger before grinning at him the way only Naruto would grin.

"_**I'm all here Kakashi-sensei." **_Said Naruto before dropping his grin and took a few steps forward. Before anyone knew what was going to happen Naruto was in front of the crowd and had his sword held at an arch. He swung the blade cutting four of his victims in half. When the others saw this they were shocked that the silver haired kid was already in front of them. Not missing a beat Naruto took another swing with his blade and cleaved three others in half before they started to retaliate.

One bandit swung his sword at him aiming to cut off the boys arm. He was shocked when his sword collided with his opponents and the result was his blade being cut in half. Another one decided to stab Naruto in the back hoping to ketch the silver haired child off guard. Naruto ducked under the strike and spun around and cleaved both the man's legs off. Jumping up Naruto did a small flip avoiding most of the weapons being thrown at him before landing in the middle of four bandits. He quickly did a 360 spin and cut all the men in half before rushing forward.

A few bandits tried to intercept him only to fall to the ground as he passed them while missing arms, legs, or their heads. Finally when he reached the end of the bridge he found Gato standing there shivering like a coward. Naruto approached him slowly like a fox does when it has cornered its prey. The man was now desperately trying to find a way out of the situation.

"Wait I-I can offer you money, women, anything you want! Just please spare me!" pleaded the man while kneeling on the ground.

Naruto looked down at the groveling man before stabbing his sword into the ground. He trued to face the bandits that were sneaking up on him and glared at them. _**"Move and I'll kill all of you." **_Said Naruto coldly before turning to face Gato again. _**"You account number." **_

Gato looked up at the boy standing before him in shock. He quickly began to plot a way to kill the brat until he head him say _**"I'll know if your lying so don't try and fool me." **_Shocked at this the man quickly nodded reached for his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He then pulled out the pen form his shirt pocket and scribbled down his account number on a random peace of paper in his wallet.

"H-here it is now please let me go." Pleaded Gato as he tossed his wallet to the silver haired youth. The boy glanced at the number before smirking. Soon his smirk turned into a sinister smile a smile that promised death. He looked back at Gato before quickly pulling Tessaiga out of the ground and stabbed him in the shoulder.

The business man could only gasp in horror as he was stuck by the giant blade. He looked back at the smiling Naruto before stuttering out "B-b-but y-you said I could l-l-"

"_**When did I say I would let you live?" **_asked Naruto as he lifted his blade up while Gato slid down it painfully _**"Now its time to die you little vermin!" **_shouted Naruto before swinging his blade upwards forcing Gato to fling off it and start falling towards water below. Just was his body was passing Naruto he saw a blade come towards him before he was cleaved in half spaying his blood all over Naruto's body.

Naruto smile never faded as he watched Gato's two halves fall towards the water before he turned to face the crowd of bandits all over the bridge. Giving them a glare they made a small path for him to pass and soon enough he was only two feet away from his team. Haku was staring at him wide as well as Kakashi and Tazuna. Zabuza, on the other hand, was looking at Naruto with a look of amazement and pride. What he was proud of Naruto didn't know but it was the last two members of his team that reactions that got him. Sakura looked scared while Sasuke was actually alive and was giving him a strange look.

"N-naruto?" asked Sakura as she held on to Sasuke tighter.

After seeing this Naruto's body began to reseed back to its original form and was looking sad that his friend was afraid of him. He looked back at Sasuke and saw that he too was unnerved at the sight of Naruto with blood all over him.

"You little brat! You killed our meal ticket! Now we're going to pillage this place for everything of worth!" Shouted one of the brave (and stupid) bandits. A few others cheered before beginning their advance on the ninja. Just as they were about to start their riot a lone arrow was embedded into the ground right in front of them. Everyone turned to see Inari holding a crossbow with the whole village behind him armed with weapons of their own.

"Come anywhere near our village and you will have all of wave to deal with." Shouted a random villager.

"Inari!" shouted Naruto while waving at the boy.

The said boy grinned before waving back. "Heros always show up at the last minute." Stated Inari

"Hey Zabuza-san." The said man looked over to Naruto "Ready to show these bastards why your called Demon of the Mist?" asked Naruto as he heaved Tessaiga onto his shoulder.

The said man raised an eyebrow at this before chuckling slightly. "I'm beginning to like you kid." Stated Zabuza before heaving his own blade onto his shoulder.

Kakashi sighed saying "Well if that's the case I might as well help out a little bit." He then formed a cross shaped seal before shouting "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" _With a puff of smoke the whole side of the bridge was filled with Kakashi's all of which were glaring at the bandits. "You all ready?" They all asked simultaneously.

"No thanks!" shouted the bandits as they raced back to the boat. When the boat was finally out of sight everyone cheered for they were now free again. Just when everyone was about to congratulate their hero's Naruto kneeled down as his Tessaiga transformed back to its katana state before passing out onto the ground. The last thing he heard was sound of his name being called before his whole world went black.

* * *

Phew, finally done with that chapter. Tell you what that was the longest chapter i have ever had to do. Next chapter will be a filler one so please dont cry or yell at me. Also i have been thinking about increasing the Harem size by three. Haku will most likely be one of them but i'm not sure about the other ones. Also NO HINATA OR SAKURA SO STOP ASKING! Sorry i just had to let that one out.  
Before i leave i must ask. Should Naruto's new outfit be more ninjaish or more like the outfits inuyasha and them wear. Its up to you guys so please vote now.

R&R or i will tie you to a chair while I play a recording of Naruto saying 'Beleive it!" over and over again and another the commercial of Inuyasha and Kagome saying each other's names over and over again. While thats going on Gai and Lee will be doing the soldier boy dance while Oruchmaru strip dances in front of you. Kukuku Ibiki don't got NOTHIN on me HAHAHA.


	5. New Gear, Abilities, and the Departure

Yo! Sorry about the long wait but i got lost on the road of life. Anyway i would like to say thanks to all who reviewed last time and i hope that you injoy this next chapter.

Kyuubi: SF why did you make me all emotional last chapter?

Me: Because i just wanted to get it all out of the way so that you didnt haft to do it in later chapters.

Kyuubi: Oh ok.

Naruto: Hey what about me! Am i dead or what!

Me: Why would i kill you off this early?

Naruto: ...

Me: My point exactly. Now time for my announcements. I would like to give special thanks to Masked Critic for beta reading this for me. Also I would like to say to those who keep asking me the question, "Will Naruto have all of Tessaiga's previous abilities." To answer that would spoil the surprize of when those attacks do come into play. So please stop asking but rest assured they will reveal themselves soon. Now its time to begin so Taishou please do the honors.

Taishou: Silverfang does not own Naruto or anyone or anything from Inuyasha.

"Speaking" Normal

Speaking'Thinking

_"Speaking' _Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon speaking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

**_"Speaking" _**Demon Naruto speaking

* * *

Naruto moaned as he started waking up from his black out. He cracked an eye open to see that he was in one of the guest rooms in Tazuna's home. Naruto attempted to get out of bed only to hiss in pain as he realized that his leg was asleep. Cursing lightly, he grabbed his leg and was about to smash it into the floor when he noticed something.

"Huh?" Looking over his hand he found that his finger-nails were now sharper and thicker than normal. "What the hell is this?" Wondered the blond.

Just then he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. As they came closer he could hear them become louder than ever and pretty soon it was like a stampede was coming through the house. Finally the footsteps stopped and the door slid open to reveal Team 7 along with Zabuza and Haku behind them.

"Looks like the brat's finally awake." Said Zabuza from the back.

"Are you ok Naruto?" Asked a slightly worried Sakura.

Naruto only yawned before saying, "Somewhat. How did I end up here?"

"You passed out right after the bandits ran off." Answered Kakashi before limping into the room and sitting next to the blond boy. "That was three days ago Naruto."

"Three days!" Shouted Naruto before clutching his ears in pain. After the ringing in his ears stopped he looked back up to see everyone looking at him questioningly.

"What?" He asked, slightly unnerved with everyone looking at him like this.

"Take a look." Grumbled Sasuke as he handed Naruto a mirror.

Naruto looked into the mirror only to almost drop it. His hair, no longer short and spiky, was now smooth and long. His eyes were still the same color, but his pupils were now slitted. His baby fat was gone, giving him a more mature look, and his whisker marks were now slightly thicker. The last thing he noted with his new facial features was that his canines were now sharper. They were all but fangs.

"What happened to me?" Asked the blond.

"That is what we would like to know Naruto." Kakashi replied, as he looked at the blond sternly.

"I-I don't know what happened either sensei. Really, I'm just as shocked as you are."

"It happened during battle, so could it be a bloodline?" Asked Haku. "Uchiha-san awakened his Sharingan during battle so that would lead me to believe that he has one."

Kakashi thought it over for a few moments before nodding his head and muttering, "That could be a possibility." Of course, he knew that the boy didn't have a bloodline due to the fact that he knew both of Naruto's parents. The only reason he said that was so that Naruto's secret could be kept hidden while still allowing him to use Kyuubi's power without causing suspicion.

"So what? You grew your hair out and it turns silver when you're angry, big deal." Sasuke said with a smug grin.

Naruto glared over at the boy before growling out, "Watch it Sasuke! Just because you're injured doesn't mean I will not hurt you."

Sasuke smirked before flaring his Sharingan at him, showing the two tomoe in each eye. "Try it, dobe."

Naruto growled again before throwing off the covers and standing up. He walked over to the smirking Uchiha and grabbed him by the collar.

"Don't test me Sasuke!" He growled.

"That's enough you two!" Shouted Kakashi as he got back to his feet.

The two boys glared at each other for a moment until Naruto let go of Sasuke's collar before scoffing. Kakashi sighed before looking over at the blond. He could tell that he was now taller than Sasuke by about two inches and that he had developed more muscle than before.

"Oh yeah, I forgot," said Kakashi out of the blue, "Naruto you might want to get some new clothes on. As it stands all you have on are your pants, which look like they're almost useless."

Naruto chucked nervously while Haku and Sakura blushed as they realized that Naruto was shirtless at the moment. He turned to Kakashi with his head down for a moment before mumbling something.

"What was that?" Asked Kakashi, who was surprised by how the blond was acting. Usually the blond was nonchalant and said anything that came to his mind.

"I don't have any other clothes." Restated the blond while not looking up at the man.

"You mean all you've been wearing is that thing?" Asked Sakura while scrunching her nose in disgust.

"My bills make it hard for me to afford any good clothing. So all I brought with me were a few white t-shirts, but all of them are a dead give away so they were useless in the first place." He answered dryly.

"And the bright orange jumpsuit wasn't?" Asked Zabuza with a raised eyebrow.

Naruto flinched at that before lowering his gaze to the floor. "The shop owners won't sell me anything else." He answered, with a slight quiver in his voice.

Kakashi gave Zabuza a small glare telling him to be quiet. He then looked over to Sakura who had a puzzled look on her face before seeing her facial expression change to understanding and pity. Next he adjusted his gaze to Sasuke who looked like he didn't care. The last person he glanced at was Haku who looked worried for the downcast boy.

"Don't worry about it Naruto," said Kakashi as he placed his hand on the blonde's head, "I'll help you pick out some new clothes if you want." He finished while giving him his famous eye smile.

The boy looked up at his sensei with a surprised look on his face. With the exception of a select few, no one had ever volunteered to aid him in anything. Yet his sensei had wanted to help him. As soon as he registered this he nodded his head vigorously before gracing the room with his real smile.

Sakura, who had been watching the event along with everyone else, couldn't help but stare at Naruto as he smiled. She had seen all his expressions and never once had she seen this one. It wasn't his cocky smile or his cheerful yet goofy grin. It was a real smile, a smile that was only for times when he was truly happy. She looked over at Sasuke who had the same kind of surprise look on his face as she did. Sakura looked back at the blond only to see that his smile was gone.

"So when do we leave, sensei?" Asked Naruto excitedly

Kakashi chucked slightly before ruffling the boy's hair, "We can leave after we eat." And then he pulled out his favorite little orange book.

Zabuza's eyes widened before snatching the book from Kakashi's hands. "Do you have any more copies of this book?" Asked the missing nin while waving it back and forth.

Kakashi's fingers twitched as he looked at Zabuza who was holding his book. Quicker than the naked eye could see Kakashi had his book back in his hands and was glaring at Zabuza before answering, "No," and walking off. Zabuza grunted before following him while he began plotting ways of stealing the book when the scarecrow wasn't looking.

Haku and Sakura huffed as they muttered curses about perverts. Naruto on the other hand was laughing his ass off at the image of the feared Demon of the Mist reading pornography. Sasuke just scoffed before walking downstairs. Naruto grabbed a white T-shirt from his bag and followed suit while Haku and Sakura followed behind him. When he made it downstairs he saw the sight of Tazuna sitting at the table drinking coffee while Tsunami was in the kitchen making breakfast.

"Morning ji-san! Morning Tsunami-san!" Shouted the blond. Both looked over at him with surprised looks before they changed to relief and happiness.

"Brat, you're awake!" Said Tazuna as he smiled at the boy.

"We were worried you wouldn't wake up. It's a blessing that you're ok," said Tsunami with a smile. "I'll have breakfast ready in a few minutes."

Naruto smiled slightly at their kindness before sitting down at the table while waiting for breakfast to be served. Ten minutes later a happy and stuffed Naruto, along with his porn-reading sensei, was walking down the road towards the village where he could buy some new clothes. As they walked Naruto discovered something that was quickly becoming annoying.

"Damn bangs," the boy cursed as he pushed his bangs out of his eyes, only for them to immediately fall back down.

Kakashi chuckled slightly as the blond tried to keep the bangs out of his face. This continued for a few moments before he finally gave up and stopped messing with them. When they finally arrived at the village they stopped, and could see that everyone was a lot happier now that Gato was dead.

Just as the two were about to start walking again they saw a young girl point at Naruto before shouting, "It's him! That's the one who killed Gato!"

In an instant the two were surrounded by countless people, some shouting their thanks to the boy, while others were patting him on the back and shaking his hands, and even some of the young girls were hugging him. Despite all that was going on, Naruto could only stare in shock.

'I-is this really happening? Is this what it's like to be appreciated?'

Kakashi, on the other hand, was looking a little sad at the way Naruto was taking this. Yet he knew it wasn't his fault. Most people would be boasting about it while Naruto was just standing there confused and shocked.

'This is the way Naruto should be treated in Konoha as well.' Thought Kakashi with a scowl, which was thankfully hidden behind his mask.

"Sorry, but we must be on our way. We have some errands that need to be taken care of." Said Kakashi finally

The people looked at the man for a moment before nodding and saying their goodbyes to the young blonde. The said boy didn't move as the small crowd dispersed until they were the only ones in the middle of the street.

After several minutes of silence the blond looked back up at his sensei before asking "W-why did they do that?"

Kakashi sighed as he looked at the boy sadly. It was depressing seeing a child that never once experienced what it was like to be thanked for something. "They are grateful for you killing Gato. It's something that comes natural when someone does something for you and wish to express it in some way or another. Though not everyone will thank you the way these people just have, but, depending on what you've done, they will be grateful enough to do what they just did."

Naruto didn't say a word and, quite frankly, Kakashi didn't mind at all. They just continued to walk in silence until they arrived at the clothing shop where Naruto perked up slightly. When they walked they were greeted by the shop keeper who smiled brightly at the blond. Naruto gave a small smile back before following Kakashi through the racks of clothes.

"Hmm… not enough shinobi gear in this store." Mumbled Kakashi. He took a glance at Naruto who was looking for something that suited his tastes. Just then Kakashi got an idea before looking through a small rack of clothing. After searching through a few more racks he found what he was looking for, and called Naruto over before taking the clothes and guiding him to the changing rooms.

"Here, change into these." Said the lazy jounin before handing the clothes to the blond. Naruto nodded before taking the clothes, walked into the small room, and closed the door. A few moments later the door creaked open and out came a newly dressed Naruto.

He was now wearing a cream white kosode with a black haori and matching baggy shinobi pants and ninja sandals. On his waist he had a navy blue obi that now held his sword on his left side of his hip. On his arms he wore a pair of ash-gray arm bracers that went from his wrist almost all the way to his elbow.

Kakashi studied the new look for a moment before nodding his head. "Looks perfect." Said Kakashi as he gave Naruto his eye smile.

"Why these?" Asked the blonde as he stared at his sensei curiously. "Shouldn't I be wearing something more ninja-ish?"

Kakashi nodded before stating, "Technically yes you should. However, samurai wear either armor or loose clothing. Since wearing armor is too loud and heavy I chose to get you some loose clothing since it's easier to move around in. I also chose them due to the fact that this village doesn't sell shinobi equipment or good clothing."

Naruto stood there silent for a moment before looking back at his new outfit. "It's missing something." Stated Naruto out of the blue.

This made Kakashi raise an eyebrow at the blond before shaking his head and saying "Well we will work on that later." With Naruto nodded before following Kakashi to the register. When they went to pay the old man running the store told them it was free of charge.

After the two left the store they decided to return to Tazuna's home. As they walked Naruto was staring at the ground in thought while Kakashi read his book. The only noise that was made was their footsteps and Kakashi giggling from time to time. Just as the two were about to reach the home Naruto stopped and continued to look at the ground while his bangs hid his face. Kakashi stopped walking and looked back at his student with a raised eyebrow.

After staying silent for a while Naruto finally raised his head looked strait into Kakashi's eye before asking, "Sensei, do you know who my parents were?"

Kakashi's eye widened slightly. He never thought that Naruto would ask him about a question like that but, after all the resent events, he couldn't blame the boy. Kakashi sighed before nodding his head in confirmation at the blonde's question.

"Who were they? What were there names?" Demanded Naruto as he glared at his sensei.

"Why the sudden interest?" Asked Kakashi, not liking how the blond was acting.

Naruto intensified his glare on the man while clinching his fist before answering, "Because I've been lied to all my life. I'm inclined to some answers that were kept secret from me, don't you think?"

Kakashi furrowed his brow at this. He was not happy with Sarutobi's decision about not telling the boy his lineage. Hell if the village had known then maybe Naruto would have been better off instead of barely able to afford proper shinobi clothes. Regardless he had to tell him now otherwise it would lead to Naruto being untrusting towards him and that was the last thing he wanted.

The jounin sighed and answered calmly, "Your mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina and your father's name was Namikaze Minato. I can't tell you any more than that, I'm afraid."

In an instant Naruto was in front of Kakashi with Tessaiga's blade just an inch away from Kakashi's neck. Naruto was now growling at his sensei as he glared at him while releasing a decent amount of killing intent at the jounin.

"Tell me more now!" He growled out, as his eyes flickered from blue to gold. Kakashi just stood there silent, not moving a single muscle as he looked at Naruto with a displeased look in his eye. In a matter of seconds Tessaiga was knocked out of the blonde's hands while he was pinned to a tree with Kakashi's gloved hand on his neck.

"Naruto," Said Kakashi coldly, "Don't ever threaten me like that again understood?" He finished as he sent a small wave of killing intent at the blond boy. After feeling it the blond immediately nodded his head before his throat was let go and he plopped down on the ground.

Naruto muttered a silent apology before walking ahead of the jounin to retrieve his sword. After retrieving his weapon he quickly put it away before walking back to the dirt path and staying up front and away from the jounin.

'Why did I lash out like that?' Naruto wondered, as he continued walking. 'Could this be a part of the new appearance?' As his thoughts came to a halt for a moment he looked back at his sensei seeing that he was reading his little orange book again. 'Whatever's going on I need to keep it under control from now on. Otherwise I might just hurt someone by accident.'

Just as he finished his thoughts he saw Tazuna's house come into view before stopping and waiting for his sensei to catch up. When the man finally reached him he asked, "S-sensei do you have something that can help me with, um, what happened a minute ago?"

Kakashi looked over his book for a moment before snapping it shut. "Try meditation."

Naruto looked back at the man for a moment before thinking it over. 'That could work.' Thought Naruto before nodding his head and ran off into the forest. After getting far enough he sat down on a soft patch of grass and got into a meditation stance before closing his eyes and taking some deep breaths. Just then his eyes snapped open before he muttered, "What the hell do I do now?"

Closing his eyes again he tried to think of something that would relax him. After a few moments he started to feel woozy and soon after he passed out, still sitting in his meditative stance.

_**Mindscape**_

Naruto cracked his eyes open slightly before taking in all his surroundings. He grunted when he realized that he was back in the sewer. Sighing, he got back onto his feet before walking around the corridors hoping to find the cage again. He began to get frustrated since he couldn't find the right path until he saw a familiar orange tail poke out of a random corridor before disappearing.

The second it was out of his view he chased after it hoping that it didn't get too far away from him. After reaching the end of the hallway he saw the same orange tail disappear down another hallway.

Getting annoyed he chased after it again while going slightly faster so as to catch up to the damn thing. This process continued for another two corridors before he finally caught up to it before leaping at it and holding it tightly so as to not get out of his grasp. That was when he heard a small yelp come from the next room. Naruto calmly walked down the corridor while still holding the tail gently but firmly in his hand.

When he rounded the corner he saw the sight of a massive cage and his same form hanging from the ceiling, in chains, still grinning that twisted grin at him.

"Welcome back Naruto-san," said a voice from behind him.

Naruto turned to Taishou standing there in the same attire he had on the first time he met him. Naruto grinned at him before saying, "Hello Taishou-san."

The man smirked in reply before he heard a female voice speak, **"Naruto-kun." **

Naruto looked passed Taishou to see Kyuubi sitting on an old block of concrete that was directly behind Taishou. He smiled brightly at her before replying, "Hello Kyuubi-chan."

The said woman smiled at him before she spoke, **"Good to see you again Naruto-kun. Now can you please release my tail? You're starting to hurt me with how hard you're squeezing it."**

Naruto blinked a few times then looked at the furry object he was in his hand. He laughed nervously before loosening his grip and pet it a few times. He heard Kyuubi purr slightly before he let go of the orange tail.

Taishou chuckled slightly at his actions while Kyuubi was trying to hide her blush. Taishou looked up at the Naruto dangling on the roof before raising his hand and making the crazed blond disappear from view. When that was done he looked back at Naruto with a stern expression on his face.

"Naruto-san we must speak with you about the recent events that have happened since you battled the ice-maiden." Said the dog demon.

Naruto looked back at him in confusion for a moment before realization dawned onto him. "Are you talking about my new look and the thing with my hair going a different color?"

"Precisely Naruto-san." Answered Taishou. "We also wish to explain a number of things that will aid you in the future."

In an instant a block of concrete was made right were Naruto was standing. Getting the hint he sat down Indian style before gesturing him to proceed.

"Very well; fist of all the changes that have been bestowed on you are not due to the result of 'bloodline limit' as you humans call it." Naruto opened his mouth only to be stopped by Taishou who had raised a finger to silence him. "All questions that you may have shall be answered by the end of the explanation." Naruto grumbled slightly before allowing the dog demon to continue.

"As I was saying, the results of these changes are due to the fact that we have made you into a demon." Naruto's eyes widened at those words yet he wasn't given a second before Taishou continued his explanation. "At your current state, in which you hair remains the same as it has always been, you are a Hanyou. When you transform you are a Youkai. However, this is not using Kyuubi-dono's chakra but my youki. The difference between the two is that Youki is more potent than chakra thereby making it stronger. However, due to Kyuubi-dono having such a staggering amount of chakra that makes it an equal amount compared to my own youki."

"So because she has nine tails worth of chakra she has the same amount as you?"

"Correct. Now, when you are in this form you physical abilities increase dramatically, but only for a limited amount of time. In other words, do not be too reliant on this form until you reach a certain age." Stated Taishou.

Naruto sat in silence for a few moments before he looked at his reflection in the water. "So I guess now the villagers will be right when they say I'm a demon." Stated Naruto solemnly.

"Sadly, it is true; you are now a demon." Replied Taishou. "Don't hate yourself for what you now are. Humanity fears what it does not understand and that fear turns to loathing. Naruto-san, so long as you maintain your emotions you will never will be considered a demon in the eyes of those precious to you."

Naruto looked back at the man for a moment before smiling at him. "Thank you Taishou-san."

The man nodded before glancing over at Kyuubi. The woman nodded before clearing her throat. **"Naruto-kun I will now explain what exactly your abilities will be while in your Hanyou and Youkai forms. While in Hanyou form your physical abilities are enhanced but not as dramatic as when you transform into your other from. Your strength, speed, endurance, senses, and regeneration will be greater than what they were previously. When you transform your abilities will further increase."**

"So what am I, a super human or something?" asked Naruto while chuckling at his own joke.

"**Actually you're right, you would be once you train a bit more. Once you train with this body then it might be as strong as your Youkai form while that grows stronger as well."** Replied Kyuubi. She giggled slightly as Naruto went slack jawed for a moment.

"So what else can I do in this form?" Asked Naruto as he re-hinged his jaw.

"**Well you have long lasting youth, and your mind will be able to process information better. Other than that nothing else really changes."** Said Kyuubi as she placed her finger on her chin in thought.

Naruto sat there stiff as a board as he heard the last two abilities. Actually he was more focused on the long lasting youth. "W-when you said long lasting youth what exactly is it that you meant?" asked Naruto nervously.

Kyuubi looked back at for a moment before replying, **"Meaning that you could live for a hundred years and look like your still in your late twenties or early thirties."** When she saw his downcast look she added, **"However, since me and Mikiba-chan are in here with you we can find a way to give the same thing to your mates as well without turning them into Hanyou." **

When he heard this Naruto sighed in relief before stopping and looking at Taishou questionably. "Mikiba-chan?" he asked with a hint of amusement. Taishou smacked his forehead before sighing as he listened to Naruto burst into laughter.

"She refuses to call me anything other than for what I'm known for. I don't know why but that's just what she does." Answered Taishou as he glared at the snickering Kyuubi.

The said woman just looked at him innocently before giving him a small pout while placing her finger under her lip. **"What?"** She asked cutely.

Taishou sweatdropped at this before turning away from the 'great' Kyuubi no Kitsune, who was currently giving Naruto the victory sign.

After everyone calmed down Naruto asked the question that had been bugging him the entire time he has been here. "Why does this place look like a sewer?"

"**It looks like this because you never had much to be happy about. Your mind is reflected on what your emotions are most of the time. In your case you were always depressed or sad so your mind was shaped into what you see before you." **Answered Kyuubi as she looked at him sadly.

"Oh." Was all he said before going silent. After a moment an idea came to him. "Hey! Can I change it now that I'm here?" Asked Naruto hopefully.

Again Kyuubi placed her finger on her chin in thought before nodding her head. **"It's possible."**

The second she said that Naruto began to think of something that would be good. Suddenly the thought of a huge mansion came into his mind. Seconds later the ankle deep water started draining from the area and soon the concrete that they were standing on was replaced with polished wooden floors. The concrete blocks that they were sitting on turned into comfortable black leather armchairs.

"I know it's not much but I just couldn't stand the sewer anymore. By the way since this is my mind I give you permission to make any scenery or add anything you want to the mansion since I don't know what type of tastes you two like." Said Naruto as he scratched the back of his head nervously.

Both gave him a nod before Kyuubi asked **"Any other questions?"**

Naruto shook his head in reply to the question. Kyuubi glanced at Taishou. Said demon looked back at her before nodding his head. A moment later Kyuubi had one of her tails in front of her. She then plucked a single string of hair off the very tip of her tail. She then got up and walked over towards Taishou before handing him the string of hair.

Taishou closed his eyes for a moment as a yellow glow illuminated the room and blinded Naruto. When the light died down and Naruto could see again he saw Taishou holding a red Hitoe that looked a little too big for him. When Naruto saw Taishou gesture him over he wordlessly obeyed.

"Naruto-san," said Taishou as he looked Naruto straight in the eyes. "This is a uniquely woven hitoe that are made of the Hinezumi hair. It is made to withstand fire and will actually repair itself when it is hit by them. Find use for this and take care of it since it once belonged to my own son Inuyasha who wore this through countless battles."

Naruto took hold of the Hitoe before trying it on. Immediately he knew that it was too big for him to be wearing.

Naruto scratched the back of his head for a moment before saying, "I guess I will have to grow into it huh."

Taishou chuckled slightly before snapping his fingers. A second later the Hitoe glowed yellow as it started to shift. When it stopped, it showed that it was no longer a jacket, but more like a red cloak that went down past his kneecaps, along with a hood attached to it.

"Better?" Asked an amused Taishou.

Naruto looked around before spotting Kyuubi who was sitting next to a mirror. Naruto studied himself in the mirror for a few moments before looking back at Taishou and asking, "Can you make it darker? Like crimson or something?"

All Taishou did was sigh before snapping his fingers again. In an instant the color of the cloak began to darken until it turned to the color specified. Naruto studied himself in the mirror again before grinning.

"Perfect!" Shouted Naruto.

Kyuubi giggled at this before noticing that his form was beginning to fade.** "It seems like our time is up Naruto-kun." **Said Kyuubi sadly.

Naruto looked back at her, then at Taishou, as he too was frowning at him. Just then something a thought entered his mind and he asked "Hey what else can Tessaiga do? I know the village wouldn't seal it away unless it had something more special with it."

Taishou blinked before shaking his head. "The answers will come when I deem you ready to learn them." Was all he got to say before Naruto faded away completely.

**Outside World**

Naruto slowly cracked his eyes open to see lush green grass beneath him. Blinking a few times he went to get up when he noticed that he was now wearing the crimson cloak that was given to him by Taishou. He was about to question how it was here when he had got it in his mind before shaking his head. He decided to just put it under the 'Troublesome Matters' file in his mind before walking back to Tazuna's home.

As he left the clearing he began to notice that it was sunset and that Kakashi and the others might be worried. So he decided to test out his new abilities by running in the direction of the bridge builder's house. He was shocked to note that it only took him three minutes to get back when previously it would have taken him a good fifteen minute walk. Naruto shook his head slightly before walking into the home to see that everyone was already at the table ready to eat.

When everyone heard the door open they turned to see Naruto standing there wearing a crimson cloak and having a small nervous grin on his face.

"Did I miss dinner?" Asked the blond who was still grinning sheepishly.

"No," answered Kakashi with a raised eyebrow. "Where have you been? You ran off at about noon and we haven't seen you since."

'I was talking to them for five hours?' Thought Naruto before he replied, "I was meditating."

Sasuke scoffed before saying, "Like a dobe like you would even know how to meditate."

Naruto turned to glare at the boy as he placed his hand on the hilt of his blade before growling out, "Do you want to get hurt teme?"

All Sasuke did was smirk again as he flashed his Sharingan. "Try it dobe."

Kakashi sighed as he heard Zabuza and Tazuna begin making bets on who would win. Haku just shook her head while Sakura had a worried look on her face.

'Maybe I should have stayed in ANBU.' Thought Kakashi as he watched his two students bicker back and forth. 'But at least those two are back to normal.'

**Four Days Later**

Team 7, along with Zabuza and Haku, stood at the edge of the bridge as everyone in the village came to say goodbye. Tazuna, Tsunami, and Inari were all in the front of the huge crowd behind them.

"Thanks to all of you we have completed the bridge. Just sucks that you have to leave." Said Tazuna sadly. "Thanks…for everything you've all done."

Naruto grinned. "Don't worry, we'll visit sometime soon!"

Inari sniffled a little. "You (sniff) better."

Naruto just grinned at him before going up to him and ruffling his hair. He then looked at Tazuna before pulling out a piece of paper and handing it to him.

"That was Gato's account number. Now that he's dead I think you can have access to it and fix up the village a little." Said the blonde

Tazuna stood there in shook at what the boy was doing. A few seconds later he felt a tear roll down his cheek. He took a hold of the boy's hand before saying, "Thank you."

All Naruto did was smile as he shook the man's hand. When his hand was released he walked back over to his team before they turned to leave. As they were walking they could hear the sound of some of the young girls in the village saying "Goodbye Naruto-kun!" which cased the boy to blush and pull his hood up in an attempt to hide it.

"Someone's got a fan-club in Wave, I see." Teased Kakashi while Haku just looked irritated.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Whined Naruto while everyone else snickered at his discomfort.

"That boy changed Inari's heart, and gave this place hope once more. He gave up the chance at living a wealthy life for the sake of our village and killed the man who had cursed us for so long." Said Tazuna as he watched them all leave.

"Hey Tazuna! What are we going to name the bridge?" Asked a random villager.

Before he could even think, a random girl from the crowd shouted out, "Naruto!"

Tazuna stopped to think for a moment before he began to laugh. "The Great Naruto Bridge. It has a nice ring to it don't it?" Asked Tazuna.

* * *

Well there you go another chapter done. Hope everyone likes it. The next chapter will be coming out sooner than this one.

Before i forget I have been told that Ibiki has given me a position in the Torture and Interrogation Department so i will busy Torturing poor souls into oblivion. Kukuku I will be injoying myself so R&R otherwise you might just end up trapped in a Torture room with fangirls, fanboys, Orochimaru, Gai, Lee, and the Two Girls One Cup video all across the walls. And you can't break them Mwahahaha


	6. The Return, the Date, and the Meeting

Hello people sorry that this chapter took longer than expected for me to write. Special thanks to Masked Critic for being my now permanentt beta reader and giving me some ideas for future chapters. Also special thanks to thsunami for making drawing of Naruto for this story. So everyone give those two a big round of applause they deserve it! Before we begin I have something that needs to be said.

**PLEASE READ THIS! DON'T IGNOR OR YOU'LL HAVE A PISSED OFF AUTHOR!**

Everyone who keeps on sending me reviews telling me to add Sakura or Hinata need to pay attention to this. **No I'm not adding them! End of discussion! So no more asking about it! **Honestly I don't care what ideas you have for how i could add them. I dont want people sending me reviews about how to add them when i dont want them in the harem in the first place. Its annoying as hell to read over and over again. I know this part of my rant is going to piss off some of the big Naru/Hina fans and some of the Naru/Saku fans as well but it needed to be said.

Now about the harem I already gave you all a list on the first or second chapter so there is no reason for you guys to continue asking me about it. Though i will put the list at the end of the chapter for you all it will be the last time i do it unless i add someone else to the harem.

And finally, the abilities of Tessaiga and weather or not Naruto will get the other swords. I am not going to answer these questions since it would spoil any surprises that I have in store for my readers. Rest assured now that i'm out the wave arc I can finally start revealing some of my surprises to you all.

"Speaking" Talking

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

**_"Speaking" _**Demonic Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

The journey back to Konoha was, for lack of better term, boring. The only thing they did was walk, rest, and eat. They did find out that Zabuza and Haku were attempting to join Konoha. When asked why Zabuza would only reply with a very short statement:

"It's for Haku's sake."

This had brought a strange thought into the minds of Team 7... They had always labeled Zabuza as a cold bastard that didn't care about anyone other than himself, yet in spite of all that he has done he was willing to risk an execution from the Hokage just so that he could give Haku a better life. Even Sasuke, the cold hearted emo-kid, had to admit that it was pretty noble of him to do such a thing.

As the days went by Team 7 had managed to get some information on the zanbato-wielding man and his ex-tool Haku. They found out that Zabuza was not only a Kenjutsu master, but also a member of the legendary Seven Swordsman of the Mist. From what Kakashi explained, all of them were at least Anbu level and that if all seven were fighting in one battle together then it was almost an assured victory for the Mist.

For Haku most had learned (with the exception of Sasuke, who was far too upset about being beaten by a girl to pay any attention) that the only reason she dressed up like a boy was to keep pedophiles away from her. She had explained to them about her childhood and, after telling them about how cruel the Mizukage was, they couldn't blame her. In the end the team had found that, regardless of them being missing nin, both were relatively good people. Well, Haku was good, but Zabuza was still a tad freaky from time to time.

As the group continued to walk Naruto was grinning as though he had won the lottery. The reason why is because he was finally going home. After almost spending a month in wave he started feeling homesick, and rather missed seeing Tenten.

'Speaking of which.' Thought the blond, 'I wonder what we're going to do once we get back. Are we going to that dango store we always go to or are we going to some restaurant?'

As these thoughts started to fill the blonde's mind, Sakura's voice rung through his ears, "We're finally home!"

Looking up he saw that indeed they were since he could clearly see the gates. This made him grin again before he started walking faster until he was walking beside Sasuke. The two didn't say a word and even though Naruto was smiling he wanted to glare at this rival.

The reason why is because ever since he had awakened from his three day coma in Wave, Sasuke had been acting more arrogant around Naruto, as though he was antagonizing him to try and initiate a battle. Normally Naruto would have been happy to oblige, but for some reason he didn't want to. Maybe it was because he didn't want to hurt him, or maybe he didn't want to hear Sakura yell at him for doing it. Even if he liked her she would still pick Sasuke over him regardless of who really started it. It was just the sad truth about things.

As the group neared the gates everyone could feel the looks that the hidden Anbu were giving them. While most were slightly worried Kakashi had known that this would happen and he once again thanked kami above that he had prepared for this. Just when they were about to pass threw the gates a women in a standard Chuunin outfit with three dogs growling beside her had landed in front of them.

"What's your business here?" Asked the woman while her dogs continued to growl at them.

"Hatake Kakashi, returning from a two week long mission with two new recruits that wish to meet with Hokage-sama." Stated Kakashi in a bored tone.

"The laws state that any missing nin found anywhere in the country with a bounty on their heads will be jailed then executed for crimes against their village." Said the woman while glaring a Zabuza and Haku.

"Yes that is true," replied Kakashi. "However, if the missing nin is willing to cooperate with the Kage or Daimyo in giving information then they will be excluded from the laws and will be put on trial and be judged for there actions. Basically, as long as they cooperate then they are allowed to enter the village and to negotiate with the Hokage."

The woman glared at the two missing nins for a few moments before nodding. She was about to jump off again when she saw a familiar face with whiskers on his cheeks. Just then the boy had recognized the two red markings on her cheeks as well. Both raised an accusing finger at each other before shouting out "YOU!"

The whole group was silent while the chuunin's eye was twitching while the blond boy was sweating bullets. The silence was broken when Zabuza asked, "You know this chick gaki?"

The woman huffed and turned away which made Naruto sigh in relief. "Yeah, I accidentally hit her with a stink bomb a couple months after I failed my Academy test for the second time."

This bit of information caused Zabuza to chuckle lightly at the girl's misfortune. The said girl turned back to face them and glared at Naruto while directing a little killing intent towards him.

"The whole Inuzuka Compound stank for two weeks! With our heightened senses it felt like fire went up our noses!" Scolded the Inuzuka.

All that did was make Zabuza's chuckle turn into full blown laughter. This, of course, made Kakashi start chuckle slightly due to the fact that he had been sent to investigate that incident. It was priceless to see the expressions on their faces as they came running out of the complex while coving their noses in the process.

"Oh come on Hana-san it wasn't that bad." Said the boy nervously. The moment he finished that sentence he immediately regretted it since the girl known as Hana leaped at him in an attempt to strangle him. Said boy quickly slid past her before making a mad dash towards his home, while shouting, "I'll see you later guys!"

"Oh no you don't you little bastard!" Shouted Hana before proceeding to chase after the blond haired youth followed by her dogs. Everyone with the exception of Zabuza, who was still laughing his ass off, sweatdropped at the display before shaking their heads simultaneously. Yup, it was great to be back in Konoha.

**With Naruto **

Naruto panted as he stopped at his apartment door. After being chased for a good forty-five minutes he finally managed to give Hana the slip. Sighing he reached into his pocket, pulled out his keys, and unlocked his door. He then walked inside, closed the door, and placed his supply scroll on the kitchen counter before heading towards his bedroom.

"Damn she's hard to get around." Said the blond aloud before he entered his bedroom. Now there were many things that had surprised the blond in the past that made him almost immune to most strange things. However, the sight of three dogs sitting on his bed looking at him while wagging their tails was a something that was very strange to walk in on.

"What the hell?" Questioned the boy. Just then his face turned from confused to horrified, before asking aloud, "Is Hana here?"

To his disbelief the dogs shook their heads in response to his question. This made Naruto raise his brow until he sighed. "Alright um…one of you bark if you can understand me."

"Bark."

"Good enough." Said the blond before walking over and petting them. "Now I got things to do so I'm going to need you to leave." In response to this, all three of the dogs whined loudly before walking over to his broken window and jumping out. Naruto's eye twitched as a thought entered his mind, 'That Hana better fucking pay for that window her dogs broke!'

Soon after that Naruto heard someone knocking at his door and groaned. Walking over to his door he cracked it open slightly to see Iruka standing there. Sighing in relief he opened the door before grinning at the scared Chunin.

"Yo Iruka-sensei!" greeted the blond boy.

Iruka blinked a few times as he looked at his old student. He frowned slightly as he studied Naruto's new attire. "Where's Naruto?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to blink at the statement. Just then it hit why Iruka was acting like this. He smacked his forehead and replied, "Sorry about the new look. I'll explain over some ramen since you owe me a bowl."

"Since when do I owe you a-" Iruka stopped mid-sentence before looking at the now grinning Naruto. He smiled as he realized that this was no imposter and soon laughed, before saying, "Yeah alright, but no more than three bowls."

"What that's not fair!"

"Neither is leaving me to pay the bill all the time."

At that Naruto grumbled while saying stuff about "unfairness" and "deprivation of ramen" as he called it. After a few minutes of small talk and a few laughs they finally arrived at the ramen stand. In the instant the owner, Teuchi, saw Naruto and Iruka approaching he started chuckling lightly and the profit that was about make.

"Naruto-san, Iruka-san!" Greeted the man.

"Yo Teuchi-san! I'll have three miso ramen please!" Stated the blond before sitting down.

Iruka sighed, and said, "I'll take one pork ramen please."

The said man just smiled and went into the back of the shop to prepare the ramen. As he cooked Naruto explained to Iruka about the mission to wave, the fight with Haku, and his new appearance. By the time he finished the explanation there ramen had arrived and Naruto was scarfing it down like it was a cure to a deadly poison.

"Tou-san, I'm back!" Shouted a female voice.

The voice in question was the owner's daughter, Ayame, who helped Teuchi run the stand.

"Ah, Ayame-chan, we have an old customer back!" Said Teuchi

She looked at her father curiously and turned to look at the two customers sitting down. One was the familiar scared face of Iruka while the other was a boy with long blond hair wearing a dark red cloak. She tried to see his face only to have her vision obscured by the blonde's long bangs blocking his face. Just as she was about to move in for a closer look the blond turned his head to face her and she was shocked to see three unmistakable whisker marks on each cheek.

"Hi Ayame-chan!" Greeted Naruto as he waved to her.

Ayame on the other hand was speechless for a moment. She couldn't believe that the boy she had known since he first came to the ramen stand had changed so much. Without knowing she started blushing at the handsome face.

Ayame was snapped out of her thoughts when she realized that everyone was staring at her. She laughed nervously, before replying, "H-hello Naruto."

The boy stared at her for a moment with a raised his eye brow before shrugging and going back to his ramen. Iruka and Teuchi on the other hand, had big grins on their faces. She quickly bowed her head slightly before walking into the back while doing her best to cover her face from their view.

'Blackmail.' Thought the two men with huge smiles on their faces.

"Hey Iruka-sensei," started the blond, gaining the scarred man's attention, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why doesn't the academy teach useful things like chakra control?"

"What do you mean by that? We teach the leaf floating exercise in the academy."

"Well don't you think it would be better if you give them something more…I dunno…useful like tree walking or give them some exercise that will increase their chakra reserves?"

This made Iruka stop and think for a moment. He never thought about that before. In truth he thought that the basics were enough for any normal genin. But now that it was brought to light it really would be a good idea. Though it would be difficult at first, the theory could in fact work.

With that said he turned to Naruto before ruffled his hair. "Good idea Naruto! I'll have to talk about it with Hokage-sama but I think you have a very useful tip on how to make some great young shinobi."

Instead of getting annoyed by the man ruffling his hair he grinned with pride for coming up with a useful idea. After eating a few more bowls Naruto decided that he should save room for his date with Tenten. So he thanked Iruka before heading over to the training ground where Tenten's team trained.

When he arrived he almost wished he didn't come at all. There, not three feet away from him, was Gai and Lee hugging while the 'Creepy Genjutsu' of a sunset appeared behind them. Naruto suppressed a shudder before turning to see Tenten looking horrified and Neji looking as though he kill someone. Ignoring the hugging green men he walked over to the group, while shouting, "Hello Ten-chan! Hello Neji!"

Both turned to see the blond boy approaching. While Neji raised an eyebrow in confusion Tenten waved back to him, and replied, "Hi Naruto!"

The Hyuuga, on the other hand, just have him a short nod before closing his eyes in an attempt to concentrate on something other than the two green wearing men in front of him.

The said two men stopped their hugging session and looked at Naruto in confusion. That was when they recognized him and rushed over to greet him.

"Naruto-kun, it's wonderful to see you again my hip rival! How was your C-rank mission that Tenten mentioned not long after you left?"

Naruto chucked nervously as he tried to avoid a challenge today. He knew that if he didn't say the right things it would lead to Lee either challenging him or doing insane things to prove that he was better. No matter how flattered he was about being considered someone else's rival he preferred not have Lee do something that would hurt him.

"It was ok. We didn't encounter much just a few bandits and such."

"Well don't be discouraged my rival! I'm sure you will have a mission that will be great for your skills! Isn't that right Gai-sensei?"

The said man gave Naruto a smile which made the man's teeth sparkle in the sunlight, before saying, "YOSH! NARUTO-KUN WILL SOON BE ABLE TO TEST HIS SKILLS! IN THE MEAN TIME WHY DON'T YOU TRAIN WITH MY YOUTHFUL STUDENT LEE NARUTO?"

"Sorry I can't today," answered the blond. "I promised Tenten that I would go with her to get some lunch when I returned. Besides I think I hear someone saying they need help with something."

"WHAT! LEE LETS GO HELP ARE FELLOW YOUTH IN THE VILLAGE! IF WE CANNOT HELP THEN WE WILL RUN FOURTY LAPS AROUND KONOHA!"

"And if we can't do that then we will do three hundred push-ups!"

"Well you better hurry. I think she is about to get hurt doing it by herself."

"THEN WE'RE OFF!" They shouted simultaneously before running off in a random direction.

"Good save Naruto." Said Tenten while trying to suppress her laughter.

"I wasn't lying." Answered Naruto with a grin on his face, "And they're heading in the wrong direction."

Tenten immediately stopped snickering and gaped at Naruto. Neji had also snapped his eyes open to gape at the blond. Quickly he activated his Byakugan and searched round the area to find that indeed there was an elderly lady who was trying to push a heavy looking cart down the road.

"Its true," confirmed Neji as he deactivated his bloodline and looked at the blond. "How did you hear that? That was a mile away from this location."

Naruto didn't respond immediately, instead he tapped his ear, and answered, "Enhanced hearing. It's a bitch at first to get used to but after a while its second nature to control the hearing distance."

All Neji could do was nod before going back into his meditation state while thinking about the blonde's new talent. Tenten however, was still gaping at him with an amazed look on her face. Just then she realized that he was looking at her and shook off her shock and smiled sheepishly.

"Alright so were did you want to go?" Asked the blond.

Tenten thought about it for a moment before walking over to him, grabbing his hand, and dragged him out of the clearing.

"It's a new place that opened up about two days ago. Its not far from here so I figured we should try it out."

After walking for about five minutes they finally arrived to a medium sized store. It was a plain white building with red letters that read "Hibachi Ichiban." The two walked into the building to see that not too many people were there. The restraint had small black tables with matching black chairs with red cushions. The floor was made of white tile while the walls were a white cream color.

The two walked over to the counter and saw that a woman wearing a white apron with a red T-shirt standing there waiting for them.

"Welcome to Hibachi Ichiban! How may I help you?"

Naruto looked around the counter for a moment before he was handed a light blue menu. He looked up to see the woman smiling at him politely. He smiled back before taking the menu and searched for what he wanted. He felt Tenten looking over his shoulder and decided to place it on the counter so both could see.

"I'll have the chicken with extra noodles and no vegetables please."

The woman nodded while writing it on a notepad before looking at Tenten. "I'll take the jumbo shrimp with extra rice please."

Again the girl nodded and scribbled down the order, before asking, "What kind of drinks would you two like?"

"Water."

"Sweet tea."

"Alright then, the orders will be out in a few minutes."

The two nodded and walked over to a nearby table then sat down. As they waited for their meals Naruto told Tenten the story about wave and about his sword. He had noted that she was miffed that he wouldn't show her yet but had promised to show her later. Though he did tell her about the change he didn't tell her it was due to Taishou or Kyuubi but a bloodline that had awakened. He was about midway through his story when their food arrived.

As the two ate they heard the sound of the door chiming and both turned to see something neither had expected.

"Guys what are you doing here?" Asked Naruto as he looked at his team along with Zabuza and Haku in tow.

Kakashi looked back at the boy in surprise before he noticed that he was with someone. Instantly eye smiled at his student, before saying, "Aw Naruto, I didn't know you had a girlfriend. When were you going to tell us?"

Sakura looked back at Naruto in surprise. 'Since when did this happen?' Thought Sakura as she stared at the now blushing girl sitting across a flushed Naruto.

"S-she's not my girlfriend Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here anyway?" Asked the still blushing blond.

Kakashi just shrugged before pulling out his orange book. "We came here to get something to eat."

"Who are you anyway?" Asked Sakura as she looked at Tenten.

The said girl looked back at her with a raised eyebrow, before answering, "Tenten. And you are?"

"Haruno Sakura." Answered the pink haired girl as she gave her a fake smile inside though inner Sakura was blowing a gasket. **"That little hussy! How dare she take away my source of encouragement from me! I'll rip her pretty little face off for that!" **

"In any case Naruto we will be meeting tomorrow at noon for our daily mission." He then turned to Zabuza and Haku, "As for you two I would suggest you find a hotel to stay at until you can afford your own place."

"Hang on a minute." Pepped in Naruto as he looked over at the former missing nins "My apartment complex has plenty of rooms in it. And since nobody else lives there you can move in without much hassle or pay for a little while."

"You sure the landlord doesn't mind?" asked Zabuza with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course not! After all you're looking at him." Said Naruto with big grin.

It was true since the landlord hated him he deliberately gave Naruto poor living conditions and also made Naruto pay twice as much on bills along with other things than normal. After having his home ransacked for the fourth time in one week Naruto finally had enough and told the Hokage about what was happening. To make a long story short Naruto had gained the land after the Hokage had stripped it away from the previous owner and was now entitled to the whole building.

Zabuza only nodded his head and muttered a small thanks in return for the offer. Haku on the other hand had ran up and hugged the blond for what he was doing which made two of the females in the group glare at her while Naruto blushed.

After getting everything sorted out Naruto and Tenten finished their meal and Tenten had to leave. Naruto offered to walk her home only for Tenten to politely decline on his offer while telling him he needed to show his new guests to his apartment.

After waiting for the group to finish eating Naruto said his goodbyes to his team before guiding Zabuza and Haku towards his home. As they were walking both noticed that the villagers were glaring in there direction but were not being focused onto them and more onto the blond in front of them. As they continued walking Naruto turned threw a dark alleyway.

"This is a shortcut to the complex just as a heads up." Stated the blond as he guided them through the alleyway. Just as they were about to exit it an old man wearing a dirty white shirt with a pair of equally dirty black pants came out in front of them blocking their path.

"What are you doing here you brat?!" Shouted the old man.

"Just going home you old prick!"

"Why you!"

Just as Zabuza was about to intervene the old man stopped yelling and cracked up laughing while Naruto followed suit. This action confused Zabuza and Haku as the two started patting each other as though they were old friends.

"It's good to see you Naruto. How's the ninja life."

"Fine I guess. Though it's kinda boring at times but you get used to it."

"That's good I guess. Word on the streets says that you had a C-rank mission. I take it you just returned since I haven't seen you in a while."

"Yeah well you know how it is. I'm sorry for not telling you but I had to see someone before I left."

The old man just waved it off, while saying, "No harm in that gaki."

Getting annoyed Zabuza cleared his throat loudly so as to gain the two's attention. Both looked back at him before Naruto straitened himself.

"Oh yeah these two are my friends from a mission I just returned from. Zabuza, Haku this is Yuma-san. Yuma-san meet Momochi Zabuza and Haku."

The man now known as Yuma grinned before pulling out his hand. "Nice to meet you both." Both shook the man's hand politely before the he turned back towards Naruto, "Well I got things to do so I'll see you around brat. By the way everyone wanted me to tell you they miss you."

Naruto smiled back before replying, "Tell them I'll visit when I get the time."

The man nodded before walking threw the alleyway. Soon after Yuma left they began walking again towards Naruto's apartment complex.

Curiously, Haku asked, "Who was that man?"

"He and a few others were the ones who helped me get away from people who I pulled my pranks on." Answered the blond while not turning to face her. 'Along with some of the villagers.'

After a few more moments of silent walking they finally arrived at the building. It wasn't much, just a simple four-story red building with a green rooftop and pipes all around it, much like some of the other houses. He gestured them to follow him and after going up a few flights of stairs he stopped at one of the doors on the third floor.

"This is your room Zabuza. Haku's is across the hall from yours." Said the blond, "If you need me I'm the first door you see coming up the stairs."

With that he quietly walked up the stairs and walked over to his door. After taking out his keys and unlocking the door he kicked his sandals off and hung his cloak on his coach. He sighed as he looked around his apartment.

In the past he had nothing of any significant value in his home. But after his landlord had been stripped of his property he had been able to have access to the man's own apartment. The said apartment had everything Naruto needed that he didn't have in his old one. The living room had polished oak floors along with a black leather sofa and a matching armchair for him to relax in. On the side were sliding glass doors that lead to a small balcony that overlooked the village and gave him a good view of everything below. His kitchen had a new counter, a pantry full of snacks and other things, both a freezer and a fridge with had plenty of healthy food to last him for a few more weeks. His bathroom was now big enough to fit a few people in it with a Jacuzzi tub and a separate shower stall so he could either take a quick shower or relax in his tub. To finish it all off his new bedroom was now just as big as his half of his old apartment put together. It had two beds one for himself the other for a guest, a window by his bed for the warm days, a walk in closet that he really didn't use, and a small laundry chute that was stationed by the doorway. All in all, it was the perfect setup for the young boy.

He walked over to his room and plopped down on his bed, not caring that it wasn't even dark. His primary thoughts were on the date he had with Tenten. Though he knew it could have been better, he enjoyed his time with her. He decided to get in a nap before he going out to train. His ideas of sleep were abruptly shattered when he heard the sound of someone knocking on his door…again.

'For fuck's sake!' raged Naruto in his mind 'Can a guy get any time of peace for himself!'

"Knock, knock knock."

"Yeah yeah I'm coming! Hold your damn horses!" Yelled Naruto as he walked over to the door. When he opened it he saw that nobody was there. Stepping out he looked around the corridor to see that nobody was there. Just when he was about to go back into his home he noticed a small scroll on his doorstep. Carefully, he picked up the scroll before opening it to see that it was a letter from the Inuzuka head.

Dear Uzumaki Naruto,

It has come to my attention that you have developed something that I find interesting. When you receive this please come visit us at the Hokage tower. All will be explained once you arrive.

Sincerely,

Inuzuka Tsume.

After reading the text he grunted before walking back into his home to grab his shoes and cloak. He then closed the door, locked it, and took off to the Hokage tower. Looking up, he saw that it was already reaching sundown. After running for a few moments he finally skidded to a stop as he reached his destination.

Walking calmly, he entered the building, walked up the flight of stairs receiving glares along the way, and finally made it to the top floor, where the Hokage's office was located.

The moment he reached the floor the door to the Hokage's office sung open to reveal a smiling Sarutobi in his usual white Hokage robes along with the white sakkat.

"Naruto-kun, it's good to see you! Please, come in, we have much to discuss." Said the elderly Hokage as he gestured the young man into the office.

All Naruto did was grin before walking in. The moment he entered he saw that a woman in a standard jounin outfit with untamed brown hair with red marks on her cheeks was looking at him in amusement. A moment later the door to the office was closed and Sarutobi made his way to his desk while he pointed to an empty seat in front of the desk.

Wordlessly Naruto sat down and looked at the Hokage in confusion. Normally he would have just asked what this was about but since he was already tired and he was trying not to act childish at the moment he decided to remain quiet until after the man finished speaking to him.

After a few moments of tense silence, Sarutobi finally spoke. "Naruto, I was informed of your actions during your previous mission to Wave."

All this did was make Naruto's eyebrow rise slightly.

"I was told by Kakashi that you had unlocked a hidden ability in that sword you carry. Also he said that you had changed during your battle on the bridge with the young one named Haku. It was clarified by the said young lady that she was winning until you changed into some different form. All I want to ask is if I may see this form and for you to explain any changes that may have occurred to the seal on your abdomen."

Naruto nodded as he listened to the old man. He didn't argue since it was bound to get out one way or another. He closed his eyes for a moment before relaxing his muscles.

'Taishou-san, please release my power for a moment.' Thought Naruto as he awaited the demon's response.

He didn't receive a response; instead he felt a trickle of youki flow through his body. To him it felt like someone was pouring warm water down his body from the head down.

As this was happening, Sarutobi and Tsume were slightly wide eyed as they watched the blond boy's appearance change. After a few seconds Naruto's eyes opened to reveal not sapphire blue spheres but golden eyes with slitted pupils.

Kuromaru, Tsume's canine companion, snapped up from his place in the corner of the room and looked strait at him. Immediately he ran over before making an attempt to bow to Naruto.

"Inu no Taishou-sama how may I be of service?"

This did three things to Naruto. First was that it made him jump since the last time he checked, dogs couldn't talk. Second it caused him to lose focus and made his appearance change back to his hanyou form. Third was that it made him wonder why he was bowing and referring him to the demon in the seal.

"Sorry, you must have the wrong…er…leader or dog demon." Said Naruto while still curious as to how the dog was talking.

The said dog looked back up at him with its one good eye, and replied, "Nonsense, every generation has been told of your existence and there is no possible way for you to have exactly the same scent, and chakra as him."

"Ok first of all, its youki not chakra. Second, how could you possibly know of his existence from this point in time? I mean its got to have been centuries since his time in this world."

This was when Tsume decided to enter the conversation. "Actually, I think its something that all dogs have. They were told that whoever had possession of the Inu no Taishou's power is considered to be the leader of the dog clan. In this case, you are in control of our dogs to do with as you please."

This bit of information came to quite a shock to the boy. Not only did he have the power of a demon, a sword of the said demon, but also the entire Inuzuka clan's dogs under his command if he wished.

"Which brings me to the other reason that you're here today Uzumaki-san," continued Tsume, "I would like to give you an invitation to becoming a member of the Inuzuka clan."

"W-what?!" Replied the blond.

The woman sighed before repeating it slowly, "I, Inuzuka Tsume, offer you, Uzumaki Naruto, an invitation to becoming a member of the Inuzuka clan."

Naruto just sat there in silence for a few moments while looking down at the floor. After a pregnant pause he finally asked, "W-why are you doing this?"

This had temporarily caught Tsume off guard since she didn't think he would ask such a question. She quickly regained her composer before answering, "Because I thought it would do you some good to have some better training with your new abilities and how to control them better."

Naruto raised his head to say something only to stop at her next words.

"Also to have a chance at having a family that cares." As she said this Naruto noticed a hint of sadness flash through her eyes. "Though we wouldn't be your real one, we can at least give you the family you never had before."

He stayed silent as the information started sinking in. His chance to have a family, a chance to feel welcomed, a chance to experience what having a family feels like. That was when he remembered the names of his parents were.

Sarutobi watched as Naruto's mood darkened as he turned to face him. For a moment, he supposed the boy had disregarded the question and now had one of his own.

And, like most times, he was right about the boy, as he asked "Who were my parents?"

The elderly Hokage could only sigh before answering, "I'm sorry Naruto but I can't tell you this yet."

"WHY NOT!" Yelled the blond.

"Because, both of them made me promise that I wouldn't tell you anything until I thought you were ready."

"And I am! I can take anything that comes at me right now! Any thing that comes at me I will take care of it, you know that!"

"Can you defeat a jounin without trouble Naruto?" Asked the Hokage as he raised his voice slightly.

The boy stopped for a moment in regards to the question. He was about to answer when the elderly Hokage continued. "Can you stop an Anbu squad on your own? Can you defeat something strong as or stronger than you yourself are? No, not yet you can't and that is why I won't tell you about them. I know that Kakashi told you there names but that is all I will allow to slip from him. Until I know you can handle the enemies that your parents left behind then I will tell you who they are. That, on the name of the Hokage, I promise."

Naruto clenched his fist as Sarutobi finished speaking. Though he did understand the importance of it, he didn't agree to how it had to be. So with a resigned sigh, he sat down and nodded his head.

'I'm sorry Naruto.' Thought Sarutobi, 'But its for your own good that you don't know yet.'

"You still have to answer to Tsume-san's offer."

Naruto blinked a few times before looking back at Tsume. He had honestly forgotten about her in the heat of the discussion concerning his parents. Thinking it over for a moment he absentmindedly started scratching Kuromaru's ear which made the dog wag its tail in enjoyment.

After a few moments of silence, he sighed and answered, "I decline."

This came to a shock to Tsume as she had thought he would accept. So, without thinking, she asked, "Why? Don't you want to be with us? We can help you with everything you need, even teach you our own families style of fighting!"

"Sorry, but I can't just enter someone's home and expect to be considered family. Though I would like it, I can't after living alone for all my life. It would just be too big of a change for me. Besides I have people who live in my complex now so I have to make sure they have a place to stay without trouble."

After he finished speaking he got out of the chair and made his way to the door while Tsume just looked down at the floor. However just as Naruto left he muttered, "Besides, you don't want a hanyou living with you." Before walking out and closing the doors behind him.

She looked back at the now closed doors with a shocked look on her face. She looked back at the Hokage and asked, "What now?"

The old man sighed before pulling his pipe up to his mouth and took a long drag from it. "Leave him be for now. I'm sure that once he calms down he might take up the offer. Though I didn't think you would go so far to help him."

The woman smiled faintly at that, "Well I don't like seeing someone like him go through life the way he does. It's not right to just watch him. I'll admit I didn't like him at first but after seeing how he lived I saw my little Kiba in his place. I didn't like it so ever since then I had been trying to think up ways to get him into the clan so I could help him more."

Sarutobi stayed silent as he took another puff from his pipe. "The life of a Jinchuuriki is a hard one and it seems that he just has one obstacle after another doesn't he. I think its best to leave him alone for now, all these things happening him lately must be making him too stressed."

Tsume nodded before getting up to leave. Just when she was about to leave she stopped and turned to face her leader. "Can I send someone to meet with him and help him with his senses?"

Sarutobi's face went into thought for a moment before smiling and nodding his head.

Tsume smiled brightly at that and headed out of the office with one thought in mind.

'I might not be there to help you. But the least I can do is help you as much as I can.'

**With Naruto**

Naruto was now sitting on his bed in thought. He had been thinking about what the Hokage had told him and he was upset about it. He had lived through the bad times, pushed down his barriers, went past his limits and it still wasn't enough to the old man.

"Well fine!" Yelled Naruto. "If ojii-san wants me to be ready then I will be! I'll train until I can take down a Jounin, an Anbu squad, or anyone else who gets in my way! JUST YOU WATCH!"

After he declared this his stomach growled loudly which made the blond boy look sheepish. "Right after I get me something to eat."

* * *

Alright done at last. Next chapter will be the begining of the Chuunin Exams and the action will return after these last two chapters of non-action fillers. Now like I said up top I'll be putting up the list of the harem for you all so you can stop bugging me about who is in it.

Tenten, Temari, Hana, Haku, Kyuubi, Yugito and maybe Ayame. (Always liked her.)

Well that's all so R&R or I'll hang you up in room full of gay guys (or girls depending on your gender) and pedofiles who will rape that crap out of you. After that I will will bring in Anko who has a random set of jumper cables. Yeah don't know what she's going to do with those so unless you want to find out review because I hate doing clean up in the torture room.


	7. The Training and the Chuunin Exams

Yo people! Sorry this took so damn long but you know how it is. Anyways i'm glad that the reviews of people asking me to place hinata and Sakura into the harem have stopped so now you don't have to face the wrath of a pissed off author. So now its time to begin the chapter.

"Speaking" Talking

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking_" Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**_"Speaking"_** Demonic Naruto Talking

* * *

Naruto had woken up early the next day, and after grabbing a bit to eat, headed towards the nearest training ground. When he arrived however he ran into a big problem.

"What the hell am I supposed to train in?"

Out of all his time since he had graduated the academy and meeting Tenten, he had only learned things that involved weapons and chakra control, simple trap making and basic sealing. Other than those he didn't have much else to train in.

He could do Taijutsu but without a partner or any form of style it was practically useless to him. Though he could ask for Gai and Lee's help he really didn't want to unless he had to. Genjutsu was out of the question - even if his chakra control had improved it still wasn't even close to the standards for even a basic genjutsu. Then there was the possibility with seals but that alone was a field too complex for him to handle. Finally Ninjutsu wasn't an option either since he didn't have much in his arsenal other than Kage Bunshin, Henge, and Kawarimi. Other than that he didn't really have much else.

'What can I train in?' Thought the blond as he sat down on the ground in thought. After thinking for a while he finally came up with something. He grinned to himself before taking a meditative position on the ground and focused.

**Mindscape**

When he opened his eyes he found that he was in a strange new environment. To be specific it was a clearing in a forest with tall trees towering above him. Looking around he saw that there was a small path in-between the giant trees and decided to take it. After walking for a few moments he came upon two small wooden huts. Raising an eyebrow at this Naruto headed to the one on his left.

After walking over to the door he slowly opened it to see a sight that amazed him. On the outside it looked like a small wooden hut that was relatively old. On the inside however, the small hut looked like the inside of a five star hotel. The floors were polished oak with cream white walls. The furniture consisted of two fuzzy arm-chairs and a large fuzzy couch in-between. In the middle of all these was a bear skinned rug with a small coffee table on top and a fireplace nearby.

As he was about to continue searching he heard someone say, **"You know, it's rude to walk into someone's home unannounced." **

Naruto's body stiffened before slowly turning to see something most men would kill to witness. There, standing in front of him, was the form of Kyuubi garbed in only a red towel which showed off almost every curve on her gorgeous body. Closing his eyes he quickly turned away and tried his best not to have a nose bleed so as to not get pummeled by the said demon.

All she did was raise an eyebrow at his actions before taking note of her state of dress. Sighing she walked over to her room and got into a change of cloths. When she came back out she was wearing a short sleeved T-shirt with a pair of black sweatpants. She looked at him with a bored expression as he had yet to turn around. Sighing she griped his shoulder and turned him around to face her.

Before she could say anything he quickly said, "Sorry! I didn't know what was happening and I thought that this was Taishou's place or something!"

Kyuubi giggled slightly before placing a finger on his lips to silence him. **"It's fine. I understand completely so don't worry about it, ok?" **Once she saw him nod she decided to ask, **"What brings you here, Naruto?"**

With that said, Naruto nervously grinned, and said, "I need training. So I decided to ask and see if you two could teach me how to transform quicker without me having come here all the time."

Kyuubi just thought about it for a moment before nodding. **"Sure, I'm sure Mikiba-chan wouldn't mind if I help you out. I can also give you something that could be of use to you in your training." **With that said she quickly grabbed his hand and guided him towards the door. **"Let's hurry before someone finds you outside."**

Naruto could only nod as Kyuubi led him towards the other hut. As they approached Naruto noticed that this hut didn't look that much different from the other. The only difference was that this hut didn't have a door but a curtain that blocked the doorway.

Kyuubi either didn't care, or did this often because she just walked threw the curtain, and yelled, **"Mikiba-chan! We have a guest!"**

Naruto looked around and noticed that the difference between the two huts was very noticeable. Taishou's was set in an old feudal Japan type of fashion more than normal times like Kyuubi's was. His floors consisted of Tatami mats while three separate pillows and trays were stationed in the middle. Not far away was a small kettle was positioned over a few bits of fire wood. So far the place looked rather comfy, and it had a lingering aura of calmness.

Just as he was finished observing the portion of the home Taishou came out from another curtain while looking mildly annoyed. "I told you to refrain from referring to me in that way."

Kyuubi just grinned at him, and said, **"Since when did I listen to anybody? Anyway, Naruto here has a something he wants to ask you." **

"Yup, do you think you can help me get your youki out quicker so that I don't have to focus so much to get it?" Said Naruto, while scratching the back of his head.

Taishou only nodded, before saying, "There's no harm in that I suppose. It would be useful until you can perform it on your own without my assistance."

"What do you mean?"

"I am merely granting and guiding my youki to you. Once you grow accustomed to it you will no longer have to rely on me to gain access to my power."

"So after I get used to it I don't need to ask you for it?"

"Correct."

"Is it the same case with you Kyuubi-chan?"

The vixen blushed slightly, before answering, **"Unfortunately no. Unlike Mikiba-chan's youki, my chakra is too chaotic for you to control on your own. His youki is more tamed than mine due to the sword you carry."** She pointed at Tessaiga,** "That sword is meant to control the demonic energies that flow through you and while it surpasses mine, it strengthens the youki flowing through you." **

"Why is that?"

"Because that was its original function that I had Totosai create with the blade. The point of the matter is that as long as you are in possession of that blade you can control my youki until I believe you are ready to use my youki whenever you please."

Naruto nodded and looked at Taishou with a determined look in his eyes. "When do we start?"

"The moment you awake."

"**Before you go Naruto," **Said Kyuubi, **"I want to show you the technique I want you to learn. It's one of the only techniques I know of that doesn't require my chakra to perform." **

"What is it?"

All she did was raise her hand and snapped her fingers. The instant she did a light blue flame appeared on the edge of her finger. **"This is called **_**Kitsune-bi. **_**It's a very deadly flame that can burn through almost anything. At one point this flame was one of the weaker techniques in the Kitsune Clan and was an art long forgotten. I, however, kept this ability and as I grew in power, so did the technique. To humans this feels like a regular fire, while to a demon it feels like nothing. But as you progress and train with it, it will become a very reliable weapon for you." **

Naruto for his part was speechless at this. As he watched Kyuubi waved the flame through the air he couldn't help but gawk as she threw it at a nearby tree and watched it almost melt the trunk before it even got close to it.

"Wow." Was the only intelligent reply he could give at the moment.

Kyuubi giggled lightly at his awestruck face while Taishou chuckled a little. "I think its time for us to bid you farewell Naruto-san."

Shaking out of his daze he looked back at them, and asked, "How will you two teach these things to me?"

"We will simply speak through you telepathically."

"You can do that?!"

"I've been able for quite sometime now. Since the day you left for that mission you recently returned from."

"So that was you huh?" Muttered Naruto, when he recalled hearing his voice that day.

"Correct. Now I think it's time for you to go. You will need to begin now before you must meet your team."

All Naruto could do was nod and noticed that the world around him began to fade until it was no longer visible.

**Real World**

Naruto's eyes snapped open before he closed them to block out the sunrise. After adjusting to the light he got to his feet. 'Now how do I contact Taishou?'

"**You called?"** Said an amused voice in his mind. This of course made the blond jump, not expecting him to answer so quickly.

"Don't do that!" Raged the blond.

"**Please don't speak out loud. Speak through your thoughts so you may avoid suspicion."**

'How's this?'

"**Perfect."**

'Ok so how do we do this?'

"**Simple; you will receive a small ounce of my youki. Afterwards you are to tell the difference between your chakra and my youki."**

'That sounds pretty hard. How long do you think this will take?'

"**Four days, possibly five if you do not grasp the concept fast enough."**

'WHAT!'

"**However, I will still need to grant you the youki. This training is meant to distinguish between your chakra and my youki. Once you can tell the difference then you will need to adjust and adapt to your new form."**

'How will doing that help me?'

"**I'll demonstrate." **With that Taishou sent Naruto a tiny bit of youki to Naruto. It wasn't enough to trigger a change but it was enough to enhance his senses greatly.

The moment he noticed the youki he fell to the ground clutching his ears while squeezing his eyes shut. He groaned in pain as he felt as though his ears were bleeding from all the sounds while his nose felt as though it had been torched along with his eyes. However, just as quickly as the pain appeared it vanished leaving Naruto lying on the ground clutching his head.

"What the hell was that?"

"**That was one of the changes that you will need to adapt to."**

'But, when I first transformed it wasn't nearly as bad as it was just now.'

"**The reason for that is because most hanyou don't have a unique senses like you have. It is true that some Yokai and even hanyou have them because of them being an animal type of Yokai or hanyou."**

'So in this case I have the senses because of you two being sealed inside me?'

"**Correct. So to begin your training you will need to learn how to adapt to your new senses."**

'Is there any other way to do this?'

"**Would you rather proceed with this type of training at your ninja academy?"**

'…Good point. Those kids tend to be very loud at times.'

"**I thought so. Its now time for us to begin."**

With that said Naruto felt as though warm water was being poured down his body again. After feeling the warmness stop at the bottom of his feet he opened his eyes, only to close them again.

"Damn that sun."

After opening his eyes a few times, so as to let his eyes adjust to the bright light shining into the clearing, he glanced 'round and noticed that he could see all his surroundings a lot clearer than before. He could hear the sound of an animal attempting to go around him, and he could smell that it was deer.

"**Now, tell me what you felt as you transformed?"**

"It kinda felt like warm water going down my body from head to toe."

"**Good, I am now going to stop the flow of youki that is going through your body. Afterwards I want you to try and bring out my power and transform."**

'How do I do that?'

"**Simple, focus on the 'warm water' you were referring to when you transformed. You already have my permission so all you have to do is grasp it."**

Nodding his head, Naruto closed his eyes for a moment before focusing on the warm feeling he felt earlier. Though it sounded easy it really wasn't. The fact that he just didn't feel it like before was bugging him to no end. Yet he didn't stop, he continued to focus on trying to release the dog lord's power only to fail every time.

After a good thirty minutes of trying he finally heard a new voice enter his mind. **"Naruto, you're not focusing hard enough." **

"Huh? Kyuubi-chan?"

"**Yeah its me, Mikiba-chan let me take over for a few minutes. And didn't he tell you not to talk to us out loud? You might freak someone out."**

'Sorry, Kyuubi, but this little task is starting to get annoying.'

"**Understandable, I guess. After all, after being so used to human chakra for so long you still have to learn the basics about youki."**

'Basics? Are you telling me that this is basic training I'm doing?'

"**For a mortal turned hanyou, yes it is. So since you were having such trouble I decided to lend you some help."**

'What do you get out of doing this?'

"**Nothing. But it beats being bored. I would rather help you out than to sit and do nothing all day."**

'Alright, fine. How do I do this?'

"**First think back to when you transformed both times."**

'How will that help me?'

"**Emotions are the key to most things. For example: when you thought Sasuke died that day on the bridge you transformed correct?" **

'Yeah, but the other day when I transformed I wasn't sad or enraged. I was calm, and serious.'

"**And that might have been the key in unlocking the transformation. If it makes things easier imagine a silver chain inside your mind and try and grasp it with your hand."**

Raising an eyebrow at her idea he shrugged before closing his eyes again, and fingered the hilt of his sheath while repeating three words. 'Calm, Collected, Precise. Calm, Collected, Precise.'

That was when he saw it. In front of him was a long silver chain that shone brightly in the pitch black room. As he slowly crept towards it he felt the warm feeling occuring again as his hand came closer and closer towards it. After what seemed like forever, he finally grabbed hold of it and felt the youki flow through his body, changing his features.

He slowly opened his eyes so that the light wouldn't be too hurtful to him. As he looked around he could smell the scent of nearby deer and other animals along with the smell of pine trees in the air. As he looked around he could hear almost everything from his own heartbeat to the slight shifting of the grass as the wind blew.

"These senses are driving me nuts!" Exclaimed the now silver haired youth.

"**Impressive Naruto-san. I honestly doubted you would achieve so much in such little time."**

'What do you mean?'

"**What I meant was I assumed that you would not be able to transform this early. I will now have to find another exercise for you to gain better control over my youki."**

'Well while you're doing that, can Kyuubi give me the instructions for the _Kitsune-bi_?'

"**I'm one step ahead of you Naruto." **

'So what do I have to do first Kyuubi-chan?'

"**Alright, the first thing I want you to do is to start a fire and revert back to your hanyou form." **Naruto only raised an eyebrow before wordlessly doing what he was told. After a few moments and a few failed attempts, he finally managed to create a small flame.

'What's with this? Why did you make me start a fire and turn back to normal?'

"**It is easier to simply manipulate a fire than it is to create it. By doing this you can learn how to control and form it so that when you do have to create a flame, you already know how to make it. As for you going back to normal, it's to help you learn to do this without going into your demon form. But enough of that, the next step is to send chakra to your chest and then immediately inhale it."**

Naruto simply did what he was told and focused a decent amount of chakra into his mouth and chest before inhaling.

"**And now it's time for the hard part. I want you to then send youki to your mouth as you exhale towards the fire."**

'Wait a second.' Thought Naruto as he exhaled the air. 'I thought you said this wouldn't need your chakra. And how do I use youki if I'm not in my Yokai form?'

"**Well when I told you it didn't need my chakra I was telling the truth. As a half demon you are able to use both your human chakra and your youki in your regular state. However, its much more taxing in this form but at the same time its better."**

'How is it better?'

"**I was getting to that. I figured if you could gain access to your own youki then you would be able to transform a lot easier than you would if normally."**

Naruto nodded his head in understanding, before asking, 'But how can I use both youki and chakra while I'm mainly focused on my chakra?'

"**That's the hard part. You need to learn how to do this until it becomes almost second nature to you, like your water walking and tree walking exercises are."**

After hearing that Naruto could only nod his head as he focused chakra into his chest, while attempting to focus youki into his mouth. After a few failed attempts he finally managed to feel it work and exhaled the air towards the small fire. He watched in amazement as the fire grew slightly while changing from a red and orange, to a ghostly blue and dark blue flame.

He stood in silence for a few moments before jumping up and shouting, "I did it! I did it!"

"**Did what?"**

'I made the _Kitsune-bi_ that's what!'

"**No you didn't."**

'Huh?' Said a now confused Naruto. 'What do you mean I didn't? You watched me do it and showed me step by step.'

"**Yes I did see you do it step by step, but I'm not impressed with it."**

'What the hell! I'm surprised I even managed to do it at all and now you're going to tell me I didn't do it right!'

"**I never said you did it wrong Naruto. I'm just saying that in order for you to continue further you're going to need to make that small flame stay like that permanently. Look for yourself."**

Curiously he turned to see the once blue flame was now back to into original color. 'Oh... so once I get that flame to stay blue then I can continue?'

"**Yes, but you must learn to also bring your youki out quicker than you did before. I won't let you continue until you can keep the fox fire alive in this world and get your youki out quicker, understood?" **

'Hai Kyuubi-chan.'

"**Good, now get going. You've got a team to meet in about thirty minutes."**

"WHAT!" Yelled the blond before he ran from the training field, kicking up dust and dirt in the process.

That was how things went for the next month and a half. He would wake up, eat, and then do a few morning exercises, such as sense adjustment and kata study before spending two hours reverting from his Hanyou form to his Yokai form in the middle of battle with his clones. Afterwards he would spend an hour on youki control before working on the _Kitsune-bi_ 'til he had to meet his team.

Today, however, he was lying on the side of the bridge waiting for his tardy sensei to arrive. He looked to his left to see Sasuke brooding like he usually did while Sakura was sitting next to him trying to start a conversation with him.

The said Uchiha was ignoring the pink haired fan-girl while he focused more on the cloak wearing boy in front of him. He had hardly seen him after they had returned from wave and he was still itching to test his sharingan on him. Thought he would never admit it to the blond, he was slowly starting to question his abilities compared to him.

'It's that sword.' Thought Sasuke as he glared at Naruto; 'That dobe wasn't a threat until he found that sword of his. Without it I doubt he could be a challenge to anyone at all. Though getting it away from him would be difficult, I could still get him so long as I don't get hit.'

With that in mind the Uchiha smirked arrogantly before looking away from the blond boy.

Naruto saw this and raised an eyebrow at his actions before putting it under the 'Troublesome' file in his brain. At the moment, he was just too tired to care what the boy was smirking about. As half an hour went by Naruto finally had enough and went to sleep on the floor of the bridge while placing his hood over his head to block out the cruel sun's rays.

Sakura saw this and couldn't help but frown at his actions. As of late, he had grown more and more distant from her. One part of her was jumping with joy as she could now spend more time with her 'Sasuke-kun,' while the other part was sad that the blond boy was now turning his back to her. After all, he was the one who always stuck up for her when nobody else would.

'I guess it's true." Thought Sakura bitterly. 'You don't know what you have 'til it's gone.'

After another hour and thirty minutes a puff of smoke appeared in the middle of the bridge, and revealed Kakashi reading a familiar orange book.

"Yo," Greeted the man.

"YOU'RE LATE!" Shouted the Pink One.

"Yes well, you see, the new Icha Icha Paradise book came out today and I couldn't resist."

All Sakura did was glare at him since she knew how much Kakashi liked the books, and couldn't determine whether or not he was lying.

Kakashi glanced up from his book to see Sakura glaring at him, Sasuke looking annoyed, and Naruto…asleep on the ground. With a sigh he snapped his book shut, before saying, "Wake him up. We have a lot of missions today that need to be done."

With a sigh Sakura went over to the sleeping blond before shaking him awake so they could begin their tasks for the day.

**In the Council Meeting Room**

Zabuza sighed as he sat in the middle of the room. He always hated meetings with his superiors in the past, and this wasn't much different. Though the Hokage was a lot more lenient than he would have liked, he still noticed that the old man could hold his own against most threats. Behind the said old man were eight people whom he assumed was the council. Most of them were clan heads of the village while two of them were the Hokage's old teammates.

He had just finished explaining how he had ended up in the village about a week ago and was now waiting for their judgment on whether he lives or dies. It would have been sooner if not for the fact that he had asked if they could postpone it until at least Haku had adjusted to the village and until she could support herself without his help. While he didn't much care for his own life, he still didn't want to leave Haku in this world on her own just yet and he stated that he would be damned before they killed him and left her alone and unable to help herself.

"Momochi Zabuza." Spoke Sarutobi finally. "We have reached a verdict. You will not be executed, due to the fact that you have given a significant amount of information to the village. However, due to your record, you cannot be trusted at the moment. As such you will be on house arrest for the next month. Afterwards you will be able to start your shinobi duties."

Zabuza sighed in relief and nodded, before asking, "What about Haku?"

"She will be free to do as she pleases. We have no record of her anywhere and she was not listed in the bingo book. However, I have no real idea to what her skill level is. I would set her as a high Chuunin or low Jounin rank as you stated before. But in reality I cannot give her that position right away. Normally she would have had to work her way up the ladder along with everyone else."

"You mean she will have to start as an academy student?!"

Sarutobi just chuckled lightly. "Heavens no. Remember I had said normally she would have. But since she is a great asset in both combat and medical fields it would be unwise to do such a thing. So we have decided that she will be a part of the medical field, while also receiving the rank Chuunin. Normally we wouldn't do this but since medics are becoming harder and harder to obtain now-a-days, it would be foolish to not let such a useful medic join our ranks. This also is the same with you since you are too useful to be a mere Chuunin guard or anything below Jounin. In short, you're both an asset to us and we could use all the help we can find."

Zabuza sighed in relief as he didn't want to have to tell Haku that she was starting from scratch in the village. He was also grateful that he could keep his position as jounin and not have to do those boring missions like guard duty and such. He looked back at the smiling old man and could help but thank Kakashi for offering them to Konoha.

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Zabuza said, as he placed his clenched fist on the floor and bowed to him.

The old man just waved it off. "You are dismissed now Zabuza-san. And also take these."

Zabuza looked up to see an Anbu holding two green flak jackets along with two Konoha hitai-ate. He grabbed both items from the Anbu before nodding and walking out of the room with three Anbu escorting him back to his apartment. Once the door closed everyone turned back to the Hokage who had just lit his pipe.

"Now that that's finished, we have some important business to attend to."

"Like what?" Asked Nara Shikaku

Sarutobi took a long drag from his pipe, before answering. "Kumo has sent a genin team this year for the Chuunin Exams."

"What!" Yelled Hiashi. "Are you sure?"

"Jiraiya is the one who sent me that bit of information. He also says that a Jinchuuriki is among the three."

All of them shuddered at the thought of Kumo having a Jinchuuriki on their side. They knew the results it could bring if the child happened to go on a killing spree around the village, and Kami knows that was the last thing they needed.

"And it also appears that the Kazekage is sending his children this year as well." After he said this he could practically feel the tension in the air. The council had known for the longest time that the Kazekage had sealed a biju into his unborn son and were reluctant to trust their so-called 'allies.'

"We must keep a close eye on both of them at all costs then." Said Aburame Shibi.

"Agreed," Replied Sarutobi, as he finished another drag. "That is why I have most of the nearby Chuunin keeping a close eye out for those teams. However, I want you all to keep an eye out as well just in case."

All council members nodded their heads simultaneously. With that all of them took their leave as the meeting was adjourned. Looking over at his desk he pressed the button on his intercom, and said, "Naiya-chan, could you please send out messenger hawks to gather all Jounin?"

"Hai Hokage-sama." Came the reply.

The elderly Hokage sighed before opening a drawer on the side of his desk. He reached in and pulled out a very familiar orange book while giggling slightly.

"Now where did I leave off?"

**Back with Naruto**

Naruto groaned as he and his team walked down a dirt path.

"I hate these missions." He grunted out.

"For once, I agree with you, dobe." Said an annoyed Sasuke.

"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad." Replied Kakashi as he read his book.

"That's coming from someone who just read his book the whole time and didn't help at all." Muttered a grumpy Sakura.

Kakashi could only chuckle nervously at the statement before going back to his book. As they continued walking Kakashi couldn't help but smirk slightly under his mask. After almost a month of being together they could now stand each other better than when they first started out. It wasn't much improvement but it had improved nontheless. Before hand, Sasuke wouldn't have said anything, and Naruto would have been acting a fool the whole time, and Sakura would pound his head into the ground.

Now though Sasuke would say a tiny bit more than he used to, Naruto kinda mellowed out slightly and was not as loud anymore, and Sakura wasn't as violent towards her blond haired teammate as she used to be. Overall the three were slowly getting better in terms of getting along.

Just then the sound of a hawk could be heard and he knew what the meaning of _that _hawk was.

'Is it that time already?' Thought Kakashi as he snapped his book shut. "Alright you three, we're done for today. You can go on and do what you wish." The moment he finished that sentence he puffed away in a plume of smoke.

**Hokage's Office **

Kakashi appeared in a puff of smoke to see almost all of the Jounin and Chuunin already waiting in the room.

'Wow, seems like I was the last one to see the hawk, huh now I have an actual excuse to be late.' Thought Kakashi as he waited for the Hokage to speak.

Sarutobi glanced around the room to see if anyone was missing and found that only two were. Both were in the hospital so it wasn't important enough for him to not begin his announcement. So, he quickly silenced the room before taking the still lit pipe to his lips to take a small puff.

After exhaling he glanced back up at his shinobi before finally speaking, "Everyone, I've called you all here to say that the Chuunin exams will be held in two day's time." He stopped for a moment to let the information sink in before continuing. "If any of the Jounin sensei wish to nominate their teams for the Chuunin exams please come forward now."

Wordlessly, Kakashi and the Jounin of teams eight and ten stepped forward. Kurenai, a woman with long black hair and red eyes, and wearing an outfit that look like it was made of bandages, stepped forward further before speaking. "I, Yuuhi Kurenai, nominate team eight to take the Chuunin exam."

Next to step forward was Asuma, a man who had a short beard with a lit cigarette and was wearing a standard jounin outfit. "I, Sarutobi Asuma, nominate team ten to take the Chuunin exam."

And finally Kakashi stepped forward and spoke, "I, Hatake Kakashi, nominate team seven to take the Chuunin exam."

"Now hold on!" Yelled a surprised Iruka.

"What is it Iruka?" Asked Sarutobi.

"Hokage-sama, I know I might be speaking out of place but all of those who were just nominated were students I taught in the academy. I know that they are all skilled but its just too early for them to partake in something like the Chuunin exam."

"I was a Chuunin when I was six years younger than Naruto." Stated Kakashi.

"You are completely different from Naruto Kakashi-san."

That seemed to make Kakashi glare at him at that comment. "Had someone helped him he could have been Chuunin by now, if not Jounin."

"Huh?"

"What are you talking about Kakashi?" Asked Kurenai.

"Simple, had someone taught him correctly and privately he would have been better off than doing things on his own."

"How do you figure that?" Asked a now confused Asuma as he noticed his father looking just as confused as him.

Kakashi looked over towards Gai, who was standing in one of the far corners of the room. "All his life, he had to do things on his own. Even the most basic things in the academy can be hard for someone who doesn't have anyone to show him how to do it correctly. So its understandable for someone to do poorly in those things. However, ever since Naruto had met his friend Tenten, he had begun to improve to the point that he knew more than his own teammates did when it came down to chakra control and its importance. That leads me to believe that if he had someone to train him in private then he could have passed on his first try alone."

Everyone looked shocked at this strange new development that had undertaken the supposed 'dead last' of the academy. The person to take it the hardest was Iruka since he had always believed Naruto was just acting like a fool because he was trying to fool around.

"So Iruka I'm only going to tell you this once." Said Kakashi coldly as he glared at the Chuunin. "You don't know anything about how much those students of yours changed over these past few months and as such I know what they are capable of. So stay out of this they are no longer your students, but my soldiers."

**Back with Naruto**

"Great," groaned Naruto. "I can now do something useful with my time." He looked back at the remaining smoke left by their departed sensei.

Sasuke just scoffed and turned to go down the opposite path from the others. Just when he was about to leave he heard Sakura ask, "Sasuke-kun! Do you want to get something to eat or something?"

"No." He replied coldly. "Why don't you spend your time training instead of being an annoyance?" Asked the Uchiha just as coldly as before.

Sakura just sunk her head down low as he said this. He, however, wasn't finished. "You're about as useless as Naruto used to be." With that said he walked down the path while leaving Sakura standing there looking as though she could cry.

Sakura was now angry and sad at the same time. She was angry that she was as weak as Naruto _used_ to be and was sad because the said boy was not there (or so she thought) to make her feel any better about herself.

With a sigh she started walking around aimlessly as Naruto looked on at her with a raised eyebrow.

Shrugging he decided to head to Ichiraku Ramen before heading to the nearest training ground to train. Just as he was about to leap off he noticed that a strange square 'rock' was stationed right behind him. He looked at it curiously before sniffing the air. After a few sniffs he, sighed and said, "Come on out Konohamaru."

The moment he said that the 'rock' opened with smoke pouring out of it. He could hear coughs and curses coming from the smoke cloud and when it cleared he saw three children in the middle of the street.

After they finished coughing they were about to introduce themselves before Naruto cut them off. "Now is not the time Konohamaru. Take Moegi and Udon back to your place or something."

"But nii-san!" Whined Konohamaru, "You promised you would play Ninja with us today!"

Naruto could only sag his shoulders as he was reminded of this. Truth be told he did in fact like being with these three. Only problem was that he didn't have that much time to hang out with them due to his training. Just when he was about to answer Sakura spoke in an annoyed tone, "A ninja playing ninja?"

Naruto only laughed sheepishly before scratching the back of his head nervously. While this was going on Konohamaru was looking at her curiously.

"Hey nii-san." Said Konohamaru, "Is this your girlfriend?"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say since after he said that Sakura punched Naruto straight in the jaw sending him tumbling into a nearby fence. All three of them rushed over to help him as Sakura started storming off.

"Look what you did to nii-san you bitch!" Yelled Konohamaru, "What kind of girlfriend are you anyway!?"

That was when Sakura stopped dead in her tracks and slowly turned to give the child a glare that would make Zabuza proud. At that same moment Naruto had regained consciousness and slowly started making his way towards an exit. That was when Sakura dashed after Konohamaru, who had decided to take the same path as Naruto.

As they turned the corner, Konohamaru sped up slightly before bumping into someone. As Naruto came around he saw that the boy was sitting flat on his butt while a boy who looked a year older than him glared at the child. The boy was wearing a black long sleeved shirt with matching pants and sandals. On his wrists he was wearing a pair of black fingerless gloves and a strange looking hat that looked as though it had cat ears. The two weirdest things about the boy was the purple face paint he wore and a giant bandaged object on his back.

Next to him stood a young girl who looked slightly older than the boy next to her. She had blond hair that was tied into four separate buns and was wearing a light purple shirt with a matching skirt with her hitai-ate placed around her neck. She also wore a pair of black sandals and had a red scarf around her waist. The noticeable thing about her was the giant fan on her back. Over all both looked rather intimidating in his eyes.

Rubbing his sore bottom, Konohamaru looked up at the scowling face painted man and yelled, "Hey, watch what you're doing you big jerk!"

This only caused the boy's scowl to deepen until he grabbed the child by his scarf and held him up to his height.

"That hurt you little piece of shit!" He growled, as he gripped the child tighter causing him to scream in pain.

"Knock it off Kankuro! We'll get in trouble with him if he finds out." Hissed the girl.

"So what?" Asked the boy known as Kankuro. "We still have a few minutes 'til he arrives so lets have a bit of fun shall we?"

"Put him down." Ordered Naruto as he glared at Kankuro .

The said boy just scoffed before turning his attention back to the child in his hand. He was about to rear his fist back to punch the brat when he saw the same kid that he had ignored was standing beside him with a sword positioned by his throat.

"This is the last time I'm going to tell you. Put. Him. Down." Snarled Naruto as he glared right at him.

'He's quick.' Thought the girl with a small smirk.

After a few moments of tense silence Kankuro let go of Konohamaru, who scampered behind Naruto while sticking his tongue out at him. After Konohamaru was free Naruto backed away from the black clad boy and sheathed his sword before walking back over to a dumbfounded Sakura and an awe-struck Moegi and Udon.

'How dare that little bitch make a fool out of me!' Raved Kankuro in his mind. "I'll show you to mess with the likes of me!" With that he pulled off the bandaged object on his back while he began to unravel it.

"Kankuro! You're not planning to use Karasu so soon are you?" Asked the girl.

"This little brat needs to be taught a lesson Temari. I want to make sure he begs for mercy!" Just when he was about to yank on the object a rock came out of nowhere and hit him right on the hand, which made him drop the strange object. He looked up to see a boy in a blue shirt and white pants glaring down at him while tossing another rock in his hand up and down.

"Another damn brat huh?" Said Kankuro angrily.

'Wow, another hot one shows up.' Thought the girl with a small blush.

"Get lost creep." Replied Sasuke while crushing the rock in his hand.

Naruto only scoffed as he watched this unfold. "Show off."

"Kankuro, knock it off." Ordered a new voice.

Everyone stiffened slightly before turning to see a boy with red hair and a tattoo for 'love' on his forehead. He was wearing a black short-sleeve shirt with fishnet underneath along with a matching pair of black pants and sandals. He had a white sash going across his waist and a brown leather belt and another white scarf going across his chest that held the giant gourd on his back. The weirdest thing about this one though was that he had huge bags under his eyes that looked strangely like a raccoon's.

"G-Gaara." Stammered Kankuro as his body shook with fear. His counterpart wasn't doing much better as she was openly shaking as the boy gazed at them.

'I didn't even notice him behind me.' Thought Sasuke as he looked at the boy behind him.

'Wow…didn't see him there before.' Thought Naruto as he stared at the boy in confusion.

"Kankuro, you're an embarrassment to our village. Continue to do so and I'll see to it that you never live to see another day, Understood."

"Y-yes Gaara. I'm sorry."

The red haired boy then took a glance at those around him before disappearing in a whirl of sand only to reappear in the middle of Kankuro and Temari. "My apologies for him being a nuisance, we must be going now."

"Wait a sec," Said Sakura. "What are Suna shinobi doing here in Konoha?"

"Clueless little girl. We're here to partake in the Chuunin exams but it seems we got here a little early." Said Temari smugly.

"Huh. So that's what Tenten was talking about." Mused Naruto as he gained a thoughtful look.

"What do you mean?" Asked Sakura with a raised eyebrow.

"Well from what I know of, the Chuunin exams are for ninja who are considered the best and partake in the event to gain the rank Chuunin. Supposedly it's to improve relations with other villages and to raise the shinobi level. At least, that's what Tenten told me."

"Oh…so this is just some test to gain a rank?"

"Yup, at least I think."

"You pretty much got it kid." Praised Temari.

"So I take it you three are here for that exam?" Asked Sasuke who landed beside Sakura.

"Yeah, though we pretty much know we're going to pass this stupid test without problems." Replied Kankuro smugly.

"Overconfidence get you killed you know. After all I had a sword to your throat because you thought I was weak you dumb ass." Said Naruto with a cocky smirk.

"What did you say brat!"

"That's enough Kankuro," said Gaara coldly which made the said teen flinch slightly. "We will be taking our leave now."

"Wait! What is your name?" Asked Sasuke to the retreating backs of the Suna team.

"W-who me?" Asked Temari with a small blush on her cheeks.

"No, the red haired one with the gourd on his back."

"Yes you!"

Temari looked back at the blond haired boy who was now grinning while Sasuke glared at him. The girl couldn't help but smile a bit, before answering, "Sabaku no Temari, at your service. And you are?"

The boy's grin never left his face as he answered, "Uzumaki Naruto. Nice to meet you Temari."

Her smile was still on her face before she turned to face Gaara who was looking at the Konoha shinobi in curiosity. He then glanced over at Sasuke, before answering, "Sabaku no Gaara, and who are you?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"Very well, I hope to see you in the exams." With that he turned to walk away followed by his two teammates.

As soon as they were out of sight Sasuke turned to face Naruto and glared at him. "What was that about dobe?"

Said boy just shrugged. "Hey, just because you want to be an asshole doesn't mean I do. I would rather be friendly than be an jerk towards them. That just ruins the whole 'we are allies so let's get along' bit don't you think?"

The only reply he got was a grunt before the Uchiha turned away from them and walked off towards a nearby training field, with Sakura following close behind him.

Naruto only sighed before walking off to do his own training. As he felt his stomach growl slightly, he smiled. 'Time for a visit to the Ichiraku Ramen!' Cheered the blond before making a bee-line to the ramen stand.

After eating a few bowls he decided now would be the time for him to start his training. So he paid for his food and raced off towards the training ground. When he arrived he was about to begin when a poof of smoke alerted him that someone else had just arrived. He turned to see his sensei standing behind him with his eye smile firmly in place.

"Yo." Greeted Kakashi .

"What's up, Kakashi-sensei? I thought we did all our missions for today."

"We did, that's not why I'm here though." Said the man before pulling out a sheet of paper. "I've decided to nominate team seven for the Chuunin exams. If you decide to partake in the exam then just go to room 301 at the academy in two days. I would have handed them out today but I kinda forgot about it. Oh and we aren't going to be having our team meeting during those two days so you can prepare for the exam."

Taking the application he read it over before the biggest grin he could produce appeared on his face. He quickly looked up to his sensei that was already holding a pen out for him. Naruto quickly signed it and handed it back to the man before he waved him goodbye and puffed away.

'The Chuunin exams, finally I'm starting to get closer to my dream.'

"**Less daydreaming and more training Naruto."** Said the familiar voice of Kyuubi.

'Oh come on I just got sighed up for the Chuunin exam. Can't I let myself relax for a bit so I don't waste too much of my energy?" He whined.

"**Do you want me to cut off circulation to your arms and legs and make you miss the exam?"**

'…No.'

"**Then get to training before you piss me off."**

'…Yes Kyuu-chan'

Inside the seal Kyuubi grinned while Taishou just shook his head at her actions.

**Two Days Later**

As Naruto walked to the academy he couldn't help but curse the fox that resides in the seal on his stomach. The sadistic bitch had decided to up his training and forced him to try and make the _Kitsune-bi_ out of thin air. Poor Naruto got scorch marks across his hands with each attempt, only to try again once they healed.

Just when he was coming up on the academy grounds, he noticed that Sasuke and Sakura were already waiting for him outside the doors.

"Hurry up dobe. I don't want to end up late because of you." Said Sasuke as he started heading inside.

"Wait up teme!" Shouted Naruto as he ran to join them. As the three walked up a few staircases they heard commotion coming from above. When they finally got up the stairs they saw that a bunch of Genin were stationed outside the designated doors with two other Genin blocking the doorway.

"Come on let us through!" Shouted one of the Genin angrily.

"Get lost you brats. The Chuunin exam ain't easy, we've even failed it three times in a row. Those that take this exam either quit being a shinobi or die in this exam. So, in a sense, we are helping you guys out." Said one of the Genin.

"Please just let us through." Said a girl that team seven recognized.

"Tenten?" Questioned Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"Didn't you hear me?" Said the genin as he reared his fist back. "I said get lost!" He finished as he punched the girl on her cheek, sending her to the floor.

"Tenten!" Yelled a worried Naruto as he ran over to help his friend up form the floor.

"You'd better get lost, otherwise my teammate might just end up killing you by accident." Warned Sasuke as he eyed Naruto cautiously. "And before you leave, why don't you drop the genjutsu so we can be on our way."

The Genin's face showed surprise for a moment before he smirked, "So you saw through it, did you?"

The Uchiha only scoffed before answering. "Sakura noticed it the moment we got here."

This made Sakura beam with the praise she was getting before saying, "Yeah, it's obvious since we're only on the second floor." The instant she finished that statement the room number on the wall began to fade until it returned to its original number.

"Impressive." Said the genin. "But all you did was see through it!" He finished as he sent a kick directed at Sasuke who went to kick the opposing genin as well. Someone had other plans since a boy in green appeared between the two of them and caught each kick in mid air.

"Now is not the time, or place, to be fighting each other." Said the boy calmly as he let both of their legs go.

'That guy caught both kicks with his hands. What kind of chakra is in his arms?' Thought Sasuke with a raised eyebrow.

"Hey Lee. What happened to the plan we agreed on?" Asked a boy with white pupil-less eyes. "You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves."

"Lee! Neji! So you guys are taking the Chuunin exam after all." Said Naruto excitedly.

Both Lee and Neji turned to face the blond. Once they saw him, Lee smiled brightly while Neji just gave him a short nod of acknowledgement, then turned his attention back on Lee. "Well?"

Lee blushed slightly as he turned to face Sakura, while Tenten just shook her head along with Neji and Naruto.

'Here it comes.' Thought all three dryly.

"Hello, my name is Rock Lee. Lets go out sometime, and I promise I'll protect you 'til I die." Said the green clad boy while smiling at her.

"No way in hell. You're just too lame." Was her reply.

This made Lee's shoulders slump as he stood there with tears going down his face.

"Oh come on Sakura-chan, he's not that bad. Hell at least he's got a personality unlike white-eyes over here." Said Naruto while pointing his thumb at Neji.

"Watch it Naruto." Replied the boy through gritted teeth.

"See nothing."

That was when Neji caught sight of Sasuke and turned to face the Uchiha. "Hey, what about you? What's your name?"

The said Uchiha just scoffed, before replying. "When you want to get someone's name, the least you could do is give your own first."

This made Neji glare at him then turn away from him to walk back to his team who where happily chatting with Naruto.

"Baka let's go! We don't want to be late!" Yelled Sakura before walking down the hallway behind Sasuke.

Naruto only laughed sheepishly before saying a quick good bye and catching up with his teammates. Tenten's fist clenched as she watched the three leave and had only one thing in mind.

'That bitch better watch what she says to him.'

"Tenten?" Asked Neji curiously.

"Huh?"

"Lets go we have to get going before the exam starts."

"Oh, right let's go." Said Tenten as she turned to walk down the hallway. When she noticed that Lee wasn't moving she raised an eyebrow, and asked, "You coming or what?"

The boy looked back at her for a moment before looking back in the direction that Team seven had left and said, "You two go ahead. There's something I've got to take care of first."

Just as she was about to protest he vanished in a burst of speed. Sighing in frustration, she followed her teammate who was also irritated at Lee's actions.

**With Team Seven**

"Damn it! Where the hell is that room?" Said a frustrated blond.

"Shut up baka! We're only going this way so that we don't have to get involved with any more teams." Scolded Sakura as they walked down the empty hallway.

As the team approached a nearby staircase they saw the same boy who had stopped Sasuke's kick was standing on the next floor with a serious look on his face.

"You, the one with the black eyes." Called Lee. "I wish to fight you."

This caused the whole team to look at the boy in surprise at the challenge. To prove his point Lee jumped over the railing of the balcony and landed in front of them before straightening himself into a Taijutsu stance.

"My name is Rock Lee." He stated seriously. "As you said before, if you want to get someone's name, the least you could do is give your own first. Am I correct?"

Sasuke smirked and replied, "Uchiha Sasuke."

"So it's true, you are the Rookie of the Year everyone's talking about. Then it would be an honor to fight you."

"Wait a minute!" Intervened Naruto, much to Sasuke's annoyance. "Lee, what the hell do you think you're doing? Don't you know we only have fifteen minutes 'til the exam starts? If we waste too much time then we all fail."

"Be quiet dobe." Snapped Sasuke as he took up his own Taijutsu stance. "This fight will be over with in less than five minutes."

"No it wont." Muttered Naruto before sighing. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

Sasuke ignored the blond as he kept a close eye on his opponent Just then the boy charged towards him before sending a kick at the Uchiha's chest. Sasuke easily parried the blow and went to punch him only to be surprised as the boy was now crouched on the ground and made an attempt to sweep his feet out from under him. Fortunately, Sasuke jumped over the kick and sent one of his own towards Lee's face. The said boy simply grabbed his foot and tossed him over to the wall.

Thinking as quickly as he could, Sasuke flipped mid air before focusing chakra into his feet as he came close to the wall. The moment his feet connected to the wall he spring-boarded himself towards the green clad youth and sent a punch to the boys face. Lee was slightly surprised at the Uchiha's performance but managed to refocus and dodge Sasuke's punch before kicking him in the face which sent the boy crashing into the floor.

Sasuke took a few deep breaths as he stared at Lee who had went back into his Gouken stance. Sasuke gritted his teeth as he noticed that the boy was just toying with him. That was when he himself smirked and said, "Well fine then. I guess this gives me the chance to practice it."

Sakura watched as her crush's eyes turned from their normal black to deep red with two tomoe in each eye. 'Sharingan, that means that this freak is going to lose right here and now.' Thought Sakura with glee.

"That wont work teme." Muttered Naruto as he slapped his forehead with hand while shaking his head in disappointment.

"Shut up baka! You're just jealous because you can't beat that freak and Sasuke can!" Shouted Sakura after hearing his comment. All Naruto did was sigh as he looked back at the fight that was already finished.

Just as she finished saying that Sasuke charged towards Lee while watching his movements. Just as he was about to reach him Lee had disappeared from his line of vision and in the next second he felt a punch hit him right in his stomach which made the Uchiha gasp from his loss of air.

"You really should start listening to your teammate Sasuke." Said Lee calmly. "Your Sharingan might be able to read and predict nin, gen, and taijutsu just by looking at it. However, with Taijutsu even if you can predict my movements, your body is not fast enough to keep up. In short, your Sharingan is useless against me."

Once he finished he quickly jumped back a bit before sending a rising kick to the boy's chin making Sasuke go flying into the air. A moment later he was behind the now falling Sasuke while unraveling the bandages on his arms.

"Did you know that among the strong there are two types of people?" Asked Lee silently. "There are Geniuses and the hard workers in this world we live in. The geniuses are born with talent while the hard workers have to train daily just to be regarded as strong. You were born with talent while your teammate and I had turn earn our own. Today, Uchiha Sasuke, I will prove that hard work can surpass any genius with this technique."

'Oh shit!' Panicked Naruto as he prepared to jump in and stop the fight. Lucky for him, he didn't have to since a random pinwheel came out of nowhere and pinned one of the bandages to the wall. After Lee noticed the pinwheel he quickly stopped his attack and landed silently on the ground. Sasuke on the other hand, was still falling towards the ground until Sakura managed to catch him before he hit the floor.

Naruto however had his focus on Lee who was looking in shock all around. Just then, a loud puff was heard and all present in the room turned to see a large turtle sitting a few feet away from Lee with a heated glare directed towards the boy.

"Lee, you know that technique is forbidden! What were you thinking anyways?" Yelled the turtle.

"G-gomen, I just…" Mumbled Lee as he tried to avoid eye contact with the turtle.

"There is no excuse for this action Lee! Don't you remember you're not supposed to reveal your special techniques to anyone unless it is necessary?"

"H-hai."

"So are your ready for the consequences for your actions?"

"Hai."

"Very well." With another puff of smoke a familiar man in green spandex appeared on top of the turtle's shell while giving the most ridiculous pose anyone had ever seen.

"HELLO FELLOW YOUTHS! ITS GREAT TO SEE YOU'RE ALL SO FULL OF LIFE TODAY!"

"Yo Gai-sensei." Mumbled Naruto while giving the man a polite wave.

"How do you know these freaks?" Asked Sakura while helping Sasuke get back to his feet.

"Don't ask."

"Now it's time for your punishment Lee!" Said Gai in a relatively serious tone. In the blink of an eye he had appeared in front of Lee and punched the boy hard in the face, causing him to go flying across the room. This made two out of the three man team look at Gai in shock while the third just started muttering about overreacting to stupid things.

"Lee, please forgive me for what I had to do." Choked Gai as tears went down his face.

"S-sensei." Replied Lee as he too had tears going down his cheeks, before hugging the man who had previously punched him.

"I can't believe I lost to that freak." Mumbled Sasuke. Naruto, on the other hand, was laughing his ass off at the emo-boy's expense and yet he was glad to note that this fight had significantly dropped the boy's ego down a few pegs.

After the hugging session ended Gai stood and looked over at the three who were standing over to the side and noticed Naruto amongst the three. "Naruto-kun! Its great to see you again. My team has been curious as to why you haven't been training with us as of late."

The blonde merely grinned nervously, before answering. "Yeah... I had some new jutsu I needed to learn so I went off and trained. You know how it is, keep some secrets to yourself and all."

Sasuke glanced at his teammate with mild curiosity while Gai nodded his head in understanding. True that most ninja had tendency to keep things to themselves and Naruto was no exception to that matter.

'What jutsu could he have learned that would make him want to do it in secret?' Thought Sasuke. Out of all the times he had seen Naruto, whenever he learned something new or something relatively usable he would never try to keep it to himself. In fact he would most likely show it to the world if he had the chance. Hell if anything his _Oiroke no Jutsu_ was proof of that. So to have the blond try to keep something secret was something that was either very powerful, or very strange.

"So how's Kakashi doing?" Asked Gai curiously.

"You know Kakashi-sensei?" Asked Sasuke with an equally curious gaze.

The man simply chuckled before disappearing in a burst of speed. "People often refer to us as 'Eternal Rivals.' Fifty wins and forty-nine loses. Which makes me stronger than Kakashi." Said Gai from behind the group.

All members turned to face the man in mild shock and surprise. Sasuke clenched his fist at the mere thought of someone as strange as him being better than his sensei, considering that his sensei had a wide reputation.

"Well I had best not keep you four caught up any further since the exam is to start soon. I wish all the best of luck. Also Lee once this exam is over five-hundred laps around Konoha!" With that the man disappeared in a puff of smoke along with the turtle.

After quietly re-raveling his bandages, Lee gave the three a small bow before taking off to the exam room. The three man team stood in silence for a few moments before it was broken by Naruto, who snorted.

"Got something to say dobe?" Asked Sasuke as he glared at his cloak wearing teammate.

"Yeah, you're a dumbass for accepting that challenge."

"Naruto, watch what you say to Sasuke-kun before I-"

"Shut up." Interrupted the blond coldly which shocked both members of his team. "I'm not joking around right now. At this moment I'm very pissed off at both of you. I warned you that you would lose if you fought him and I knew that because I had seen both you and Lee fight plenty of times. Had he finished that attack on you Sasuke he would have most likely either killed you or severely injured you to the point that we wouldn't be able to partake in the Chuunin exam."

"And Sakura if you would have just listened to me and not put blind judgment on the fight you should have supported me instead of against me. Now I know I'm not the smartest person in the world, but when a rookie Genin fights up against a Genin who has been active for almost two years you can assume that the winner would be the seasoned shinobi any day."

To say that both members were flabbergasted would be an understatement. Both members were almost shell-shocked at how cold and heartless their teammate had spoken to them just now. And after having it replayed in their minds a few times, they realized that the blond was right. Sasuke was being foolish and arrogant and Sakura was blinded by her crush that she failed to see that not only was time not on their side but that the boy was indeed faster than her crush was.

That was when Sasuke did something nobody had ever seen him do. His head sunk slightly before muttering one word. "Sorry."

"W-what?" Now it was Naruto's turn to be flabbergasted at his teammate's actions.

"You heard me, I said sorry."

"W-why are you apologizing then?"

"Because I don't want a dobe tell me my faults without having good reason to. As it stands you have good reason and for that I'm simply saying that I understand the importance of how I need to approach things. Though I don't regret fighting him at least I know I can't take anyone in this building lightly…not even you."

Naruto couldn't help but gape at what he had just heard. However, his shock turned into happiness as he realized that Sasuke now saw him as a challenge. After all he had done in the time that he had met the Uchiha the said boy had finally accepted him as his rival or at least he thought.

So without saying anything he pulled out his hand for the boy to shake while grinning at the brooder in front of him. "Apology accepted."

Had Naruto looked directly at Sasuke he would have saw the Uchiha smirk before shaking the blonde's hand. This smirk, however, wasn't an arrogant one it was the closest thing to a smile that the boy could produce at least for the moment.

"Alright lets get this exam over with." Said Naruto while still maintaining his grin.

"Right." While also maintaining his smirk before looking over at Sakura. "You ready?"

Sakura just looked back at Sasuke with a small smile on her face as she then looked over at Naruto who was also looking over at her as well. "Yeah, let's do this."

Both boy's nodded before walking up the stairs and towards the exam room. As they approached the room they noticed that Kakashi was standing beside the door and was reading his book of smut. He looked up from his book for a moment before eye smiling and snapping his book up and placing it back into the confines of his pouch.

"Well I'm glad to see all three of you came. If one of you had not shown then I wouldn't have let you enter." Said Kakashi seriously.

"Huh? I thought the Chuunin exam was optional." Said Naruto with a confused look on his face.

"Well it is, but in order for you participate in it all three members had to show up."

"So you didn't forget to hand it to us. You did it to see if we would take it on our own accord, right?" Asked Sakura.

"Yes."

"Was that really necessary?"

"Yes, because I didn't want you to be forced into doing something you didn't want to. If I had handed it to you while you were all together then you would have been compelled to do so because you wouldn't want Sasuke or Naruto to miss out on the chance to advance in ranks."

Nobody could object to that logic so they all just kept silent and waited to see if their sensei had anything else to say.

"But, you're all here and that's all that matters. Before you walk through those doors I want you all to know that I have faith that you three can pass and that I'm very proud of all three of you." Said Kakashi before giving them his eye smile again.

All three genin smiled (In Sasuke's case smirked) back at him and stepped passed their sensei and opening the doors to the exam room where the beginning of a great series of trials awaited them.

* * *

Alright thats done. Next chapter will be the begining of the first exam. Sorry there really isnt much left for me to say at the moment so just keep an eye out for the next chapter. So R&R or I'll drop the story and give it to some amateur writer and have him turn this story to hell. Please review because i really don't want to do that.


	8. The written, the survival and the Snake

Yo, sorry it took so long to update but my beta was sick so I just had to wait. Anyway I just wanted to say thanks to all my fateful reviewers out there. So now its time with the next chapter! Oh and before I forget, please check out the cover of this fic that was made by Thsunami. He spent a lot of time on it so please be sure to tell him what you think. Also my beat reader has a message for all readers before we begin the chapter.

Sorry folks, Masked Critic here, beta reader for this story. Don't blame SF88 for the delay, he got this to me a while back, but I got horribly sick, and couldn't get it done until now. Any and all bitching should be directed towards me, not him!

"Speaking" Normal Talk

'Speaking' Thinking

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_"Speaking" _Jutsu Being Called

**_"Speaking" _**Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

The moment Team Seven walked into the testing room they were blessed with the sight of Genin from almost every village glaring at them with great intensity. Each member also felt the slightest bit of killing intent that was radiating from some of the more… annoyed Genin. Absentmindedly Naruto found that quite a few of the ones using killing intent were the ones from Ame.

Just as team seven was about to find a place to sit and wait a loud squeal was heard before Sasuke was embraced in hug from behind by Yamanaka Ino.

"Sasuke-kun! I missed you so much!" Squealed the blond as she continued to hug a very annoyed looking Sasuke.

Naruto looked at Sasuke's source of annoyance in amusement while Sakura looked at Ino in anger.

"Get off him Ino-pig!" Yelled Sakura.

"Oh it's only you forehead girl. Why don't you go somewhere else and let me and Sasuke-kun spend some time together?"

"Why you!"

"So you three are in this too? Troublesome." Said a new voice. Naruto turned to see the ever lazy Shikamaru and his 'big boned' friend Choji. Choji noticed Naruto and gave the boy a small, confused wave as he and his friend approached Team Seven.

"Well it looks like the groups all here." Said another familiar voice. All turned to see Inuzuka Kiba and his other two teammates Aburame Shino and Hyuuga Hinata. Most parties were surprised when the said girl looked over at Naruto before giving him a kind wave.

That was when Kiba took notice to Naruto's new look and asked "What's with you dobe? Thinking that a new outfit will make you any better?"

Naruto only looked at him for a moment before taking a small whif of the air. "Damn Kiba, go take a bath or something! I can smell you from here!"

This caused Kiba to grawl at him while Akamaru hid in his master's coat. Just when Kiba was about to tackel Naruto Ino grabbed him and moved them away from Naruto and Hinata.

"What happened to her? She usually faints around him." Whispered Ino as she looked at Hinata curiously.

"Kurenai-sensei straightened her out about that whole thing and helped her get through it. She has been doing great in her Juuken ever since." Answered Kiba, totally forgetting his anger towards the other blond. Ino just looked back at Hinata, then at Naruto before shrugging and running over towards Sasuke.

Shino just remained silent as he observed everyone around him. When he and his team first arrived he had quietly sent his bugs around the room before having them take a small bit of everyone's chakra. Now his bugs were on the last three man team and his bugs had just finished getting the first two members of the team. When they got to Naruto however, his bugs refused to even go near the boy even when ordered him to. When he asked them why the bugs would answer, "His chakra is…different."

'What is so different about his chakra?' Thought Shino as he eyed Naruto through his sunglasses.

"You know you guys really need to keep it down." Said another new voice.

All turned to see a teen with white hair, wearing a strange purple outfit with glasses walking towards them. "You guys are rookies that just recently came out of the academy, so I would recommend that you all just keep quiet."

"Who do you think you are?" Asked Ino slightly miffed at the newcomer.

"My name is Kabuto and before you get angry at me look behind you."

All turned to see three Rain nin glaring at them while sending out another wave of killing intent. Some members of the rookie nine shuddered under their glares while some others either ignored them or sent their own at them.

"Those three are from Ame, I hear they have rather short tempers." Muttered Kabuto.

"Kabuto-san, that's your name right?" Asked Sakura.

"Yes you're right."

"Is this your second time taking this exam?"

"Oh no," said the boy while chuckling slightly, "This is actually going to be my seventh time in this exam."

"Seventh?" Questioned Naruto. "That sucks."

"Naruto!" scolded Sakura as she prepared to punch him only to stop when she heard Kabuto chuckle again.

"Yeah, I know but this time will be different I hope." Said the teen while smiling a little.

"So do you know anything about this exam?" Asked Ino.

"Why yes I do. See, even if I fail I have been doing some research on some information I've been gathering for these past six times taking this exam." After he finished his statement he went to his supply pouch and pulled out a stack of cards. "I call these my Ninja info cards."

Holding out a random card he poured some chakra into it and the card changed from a blank white sheet to a graph showing all the shinobi counties. "This is a graph of all the shinobi that were sent here for this exam. However, in order to see these cards you must use my chakra otherwise it will look like a blank card."

"Do you have information on certain individuals?" Asked Sasuke as he looked at the teen in curiosity.

"Yes, all I need is a name and it should be easy."

"Sabaku no Gaara, Rock Lee…and Uzumaki Naruto."

Said boy looked at Sasuke in curiosity while others looked just as confused as he did.

Kabuto only smirked before placing his hand on the deck of cards and closing his eyes. A few moments later he was holding three cards.

"Lets see Rock Lee, 20 D-rank missions, 12 C-rank and his Taijutsu has improved this year. He had gained attention as a talented Genin but didn't partake in the exam last year so this will be his first time just like all of you. However compaired to last year his Taijutsu skills are almost off the charts while his Genjutsu and his Ninjutsu are below average. His teammates are Hyuuga Neji and Tenten."

"Next is Sabaku no Gaara. 8 C-ranked and 1 B-rank mission. Not bad for a Genin, anyway since he is from another country I don't have much information on him. Although in all his mission reports he has yet to receive a single injury."

"And finally Uzumaki Naruto. So far he has taken 16 D-rank missions and 1 C-rank that was bumped up to an A-rank His skills have drastically changed over the passed two months and he was the dobe of his graduating class. His kenjutsu is decent yet not good enough to be considered a master. His Taijutsu is decent as well but is no where near as good as his kenjutsu. His Ninjutsu hasn't changed much and his Genjutsu is non-existent. And is says here that you are his teammate along with Haruno Sakura."

Everyone looked at Naruto with slight shock while Naruto was muttering things about 'nosy teammates.' After a few moments of silence Naruto decided to ask his own question. "So are all the people in this exam as strong as those two?"

"Yes, well maybe. I doubt that most of these people have returned from missions without a scratch but most of the Genin here are the top amongst other Genin from their village. Though I'm not too sure about Oto, since their village was just created late last year I think."

At that Naruto stared back at the crowd of Genin that were still glaring at him and the others. 'Ok this is getting on my nerves. Time to show them what a Hanyou is made of.' Thought Naruto with a small smirk

Slowly he cast his head down to where no one could see his facial features. Taking a quick glance through the gap in his bangs he saw that most of the Genin had their attention on him. Naruto slowly started channeling his youki until only his facial features changed. He raised his head up to glare at the crowd before smirking which gave everyone a good view of his fangs. When the Rookie Nine noticed that the crowd was looking freaked out they turned to face Naruto who had quickly stopped the flow of youki and reverted back into his regular self.

"What?" Asked Naruto innocently.

**"Looks like your Youki control training is paying off rather well." **Congratulated a voice in his mind.

'Thanks Kyuu-chan.'

In the crowd Tenten and her team smirked at the blonde's actions. They had seen the form not long ago while Naruto wasn't training and knew about his supposed 'bloodline.'

Not far away from them Gaara stood looking at Naruto with a small frown as he heard his mother telling him to be wary of the blond. Temari and Kankuro were both were eyeing Naruto with curiosity and a bit of fear since the sight of a boy changing his features in a blink of an eye was a rather freaky sight.

In another spot in the crowd a certain blond haired woman eyed Naruto as well while her teammates took a simple glance at the child before dismissing him.

"Not sure about Oto huh?" Said a teen with bandages covering his entire head but for his right eye.

"What do you say we give him a piece of our mind, Dosu?" Asked a girl with long black hair.

"I say we do more than give him a piece of our minds, but also a few bruises too." Said another teen with spiky black hair with a smirk.

"Yes let's show him that Oto shinobi are capable of." The moment he finished he and his teammates disappeared into the crowd.

A moment later a the boy with spiky hair jumped off a nearby table before throwing two kunai at Kabuto, whom had jumped back to avoid them. After skidding to a stop he looked up to see the teen with bandages around his head was now charging him with a strange gauntlet on his arm reared back to strike him. The teen swung at Kabuto's face which the said teen had been able to dodge easily only to have his glasses break.

'What happened?' Thought Kabuto as he eyes his broken glasses. 'I dodged that punch.' That was when he felt pain which seemed to be coming from his stomache before he fell onto his hands and knees and began vomiting.

Naruto too was feeling some rather strange effects. 'Damn it my ears! What the hell was that!'

"Write this down on your damn cards: The Oto nins will definitely be Chuunin."

"Alright quiet down you little bastards!" Yelled a deep voice coming from the front of the room.

Suddenly a giant puff of smoke erupted from the front of the room. The moment it cleared it revealed a scarred man in a black trench coat and a blue proctor uniform had appeared, along with several Chuunin who were wearing similar uniforms.

"I'm Morino Ibiki, your proctor for the first test in the Chuunin Exam. As for you three sound nins, you had better shape up otherwise I'll fail you all right now understood!" Yelled the man as he glared at the three.

"Sorry, its our first time and we got a little… antsy."

All that did was make Ibiki scoff, before saying, "There will be no fighting during this Exam without the proctor's permission. Even then you are not allowed to kill your opponent. If you disobey my rules you will be failed immediately. Am I understood?" His reply was several people nodding and sweating.

"We will now begin the first test of the Chuunin exam. Now instead of your current seating arrangements, you come up here and pick up a tab and go to the assigned seat. Once everyone is seated we will being handing out the written exam."

"WHAT! A WRITTEN TEST!" Shouted Naruto as he began to panic.

"Yes now shut the hell up and get to your assigned seat before I fail you!" Shouted an annoyed Ibiki.

As everyone slowly got to their assigned seats Naruto couldn't help but grimace at his predicament. No matter how much he trained he still sucked at almost anything written. The only thing he could do was bang his head down his desk as he waited for everyone to be seated.

"Stop that, it's getting on my nerves." Said the person sitting beside him.

Naruto turned and glared at his neighbor who was now glaring at him as well. His neighbor was a girl who looked slightly older than he did and had the same colored hair as he did. Though her hair was long and bound by bandages that stopped at the mid of her back. She had on a black sleeveless vest with a white shirt underneath it. She also had on matching pants and sandals with a thin violet colored sash around her waist. Overall she wasn't that bad looking had he took the time to notice.

"Hey, I'll do as I damn well please. And if you don't like it then you can just bite me." Growled Naruto as he turned to face the proctor. The woman beside him only hmphed and did the same as her neighbor.

"Alright I will now explain the rules of this test and don't ask any questions during the explanation!" When he heard no one speak he continued, "The first rule to this test is you will all start with ten points, the same amount to the number of questions on this test. However, as you go through it if you get answers wrong then you will lose a point.

"The second rule is that this is a team test! Meaning that depending on your combined score of all three of your teammates will determine whether or not you pass. So each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to from the initial team total of thirty."

In response to this, Sakrua raised her hand and shouted, "Hold on a minute! I don't understa-"

"I said no questions so be quiet and listen!" Interrupted Ibiki which made Sakura flinch slightly. "The third rule for this test is that anyone caught cheating during this test by the Chuunin watching will automatically have two points subtracted from his test."

"We'll be watching you." Said an amused Chuunin sitting near the wall.

'So there are other ways for someone to fail this test besides incorrect answers.' Thought Sakura as she looked back at Naruto. 'Alright, Naruto won't do well but if Sasuke-kun and I do ok then there should be no problem.'

"As for the final rule, anyone who loses his initial points during the test or those who don't answer any at all correctly, will fail along with both their teammates."

"What!" Yelled Sakura.

"No." Mumbled Sasuke.

"I feel like hiding in a hole somewhere." Sobbed Naruto.

"You have an hour to complete this test. Begin!" With that everyone flipped their papers over and began the test.

Naruto sat uneasily in his chair as he looked over the questions. Most of which were too hard for him to even begin to understand. He searched frantically for even one question he could do correctly and, to his dismay, he couldn't find a single answer. Sighing he looked back up to see everyone scribbling down answers while he looked like a fish out of water.

"**Something wrong Naruto?" **Asked Kyuubi from his mind.

'I'm taking my exam and I don't know a single answer.' Replied the blond.

"**Let me see it."**

'…how?'

"**Just look at the paper and I will be able to see through your eyes."**

'Oh…Alright.' Answered the blond as he looked at the questions on his paper. After a few moments of silence he asked 'Do you know any of these?'

"…**Nope."**

'WHAT!'

"**Hey I'm a demon, not a shinobi. I might be smart but I'm no genius when I comes to what you humans do." **

'So what do you recommend I do now?'

"**Pray that this Ibiki guy will cut you some slack?"**

'…That is all you can come up with?'

"**Well if you got a better idea I'd love to hear it."**

'…point taken.'

Just then he heard a dog bark. He looked up to see Kiba's dog Akamaru barking before Kiba would franticly write down answers. Raising an eyebrow he watched for a few moment before coming to a conclusion that would help him pass this test.

'Kyuu-chan, tell Taishou-san to tell me what Akamaru is saying to Kiba.'

"**Why?"**

'Because Kiba is getting his answers from Akamaru!'

"…**You sly little kit. I think some of me is rubbing off on you already." **Naruto could practically feel Kyuubi grinning inside his mind and couldn't help but smirk triumphantly at his idea.

"**Naruto-san?"**

'Yeah I'm listening.'

"**Good, I will translate what the dog is telling his owner… remind me to train you how to do this without my assistance the next free moment we have."**

'Got it.' And with that Naruto got a relay of whatever Akamaru was saying. By the time he finished he had about half an hour so he decided to sit and relax. As he waited he saw that the blond beside him was giving him an odd look.

Glancing over at the proctors he quickly looked back at her before whispering, "Better get back to your test or the proctor might think you're cheating."

She gave him a small nod before going back to work on her test while Naruto continued to relax in his chair.

After twenty minutes of waiting Naruto heard Ibiki clear his throat to gain the class's attention. "We will now begin the tenth question!"

Just as the man was about to continue the door to the classroom opened to reveal Kankuro walking into the classroom with a proctor. 'When did he leave?' Thought Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, good timing. Did your little doll playing help you any?" Asked an amused Ibiki.

'When did he see through Karasu?' Thought the boy as he walked to his seat. As he passed Temari he gave her a small slip of paper before continuing on as though nothing happened.

"Now that everyone is here, I'll explain the rules of desperation."

"First thing about the tenth question is you have to decide whether or not you will take it."

"Choose? What happens if we don't take it?" asked Temari

"If you don't choose to take it then your points will be reduced to zero and you fail along with your two teammates."

"What the hell? Then of course we'll take it!"

"But here is the other rule. If you decide to take it then answer incorrectly…then that person will lose the right to ever partake in the Chuunin Exam again!"

"What kind of rule is that? I've seen guys here who have taken this exam before!"

This only caused the man to chuckle which scared some of the people who were already freaked out by the scarred man. "You're just unlucky that this year it's my rules. However, I'm giving you all a way out of this."

When he noticed the blank looks he was getting he elaborated. "Those that believe that cannot take the tenth question can choose to not take it and try again next year.

"Now lets begin the final question! I will ask those who don't wish to take the final question to raise their hand. Once your number is called please leave along with your teammates."

For a while nobody said anything. Then slowly people started raising their hands. A series of numbers was called along with six other series of numbers before all was quiet again. That was when Naruto noticed out of the corner of his eye that Sakura was giving him a sad smile before lowering her pencil and slowly raising her hand.

'No! Don't do that, I can do this last question Sakura-chan just don't raise your hand!' Yelled a frantic Naruto in his mind. He had to think of something before she raised her hand. At the last moment he raised his own hand catching almost everyone in the rookie nine off guard. He threw them for a loop when he slammed his hand down the desk before giving Ibiki the finger with his other hand while grinning like an idiot. "Yeah like that crap was going to work. It takes more than that to scare me away! So go ahead and give us the next question and I guarantee you I'll pass."

Ibiki glared at him for getting the bird from him until he noticed that almost all tension that was in the room previously had dispersed and almost all occupants were smirking at the blond's words. "I'll ask you this once, are you sure you want to do this? Realize that if you fail you are a Genin for the remainder of your Shinobi career."

"I don't go back on any word I make, that's my nindo."

'Little brat left me seventy eight people, more than I thought would be left. Though I will hand it to him, he's an interesting one. Well stretching this out any further would be pointless.' Thought Ibiki as he glanced over at the Chuunin proctors before receiving a nod from one of them.

"To those of you still remaining…congratulations for passing the first part of the Chuunin Exam!"

"What the hell!" Shouted Naruto in frustration.

"What about the tenth question?" Asked Ino.

"There never was, unless you count those two choices as the tenth question." Said a now grinning Ibiki.

'That's a strange change in personality.' Thought Sakura dryly.

"What about the first nine question? Where they just pointless?" Asked a confused Temari.

"Oh no they had their own purpose, information gathering."

"…you lost me." Stated Naruto with a blank look on his face.

"As you know this test is based on the whole team doing well. So that put pressure on the whole team not to screw up for their teammates."

"Oh."

"However, most of you figured out that the questions on this test were too hard for you to answer. So you had to cheat in order to do so. Though even knowing that you had to cheat would have been useless if you didn't have the answers to begin with. So we had some of our Chuunin who knew all the answers get mixed with the crowd so as to help you guys out."

'Ok didn't see that part. Good thing I had Akamaru get me out of that jam or I would have been panicking through the whole exam.' Thought Naruto.

"And as you can guess, those that cheated poorly failed." Continued Ibiki while removing his headband. After taking it off he revealed his scared bawled head with several holes and burn marks.

'The after-effects of torture.' Thought Sasuke as he viewed the sight.

'Huh, unlike him I wouldn't make the mistake of becoming a prisoner.' Thought Dosu smugly.

"This is the result of when information is more valuable than life. And on missions and on the battlefield people will risk their lives to get that information."

"But what about the tenth question?" Asked Temari as Ibiki placed his headband back on.

"That is where this test really comes into play, the choice to take it or not take it. It's meant to be a hard choice between those two though most would rather take it next year and hope to pass. Those who decide to stay are the ones who take a leap of faith and stay even though they might not ever get the chance to take it again."

"Where are you getting at?" Asked Kiba who was getting annoyed.

"What I'm getting at is that as Chuunin you will be doing missions where you cannot afford to back down from it just so you can stay alive. You must be willing to take a mission that you might not come back home from and show no hesitation when doing so. In other words, those who would rather 'try again next time' don't deserve to become Chuunin and those who take it without fear do and will have no troubles in the future. Now you have all passed the first test of the Chuunin exams and I wish you guys luck."

Naruto and the other rookies couldn't help but be proud of themselves until the window next to Ibiki shattered to show a black ball of… something coming through the window and into the classroom. A few seconds later two sides of the thing was being held up by kunai and revealed to be a banner of some sort and in the middle of it stood a violet haired woman in a brown trench coat wearing a fishnet bodysuit, a small orange skirt, gray shin guards, and black sandals.

"Alright you guys, this ain't no time to be celebrating!" Yelled the woman. "I'm the proctor for the second exam, Mitarashi Anko so come on follow me to the next exam!" Finished the woman now known as Anko while pumping her fist into the air.

"Bad timing." Muttered Ibiki which made Anko blush slightly.

"**Naruto-san may I ask you something?" **Asked Taishou.

'Fire away.' Replied the still gaping Naruto.

"**Is she, what you human's call, a prostitute?"**

This was the wrong question to ask as Naruto erupted into a fit of laughter that caused some others to look at him as though he was crazy. Anko on the other hand glared at him for laughing her blunder and made a mental note to hurt him next chance she got.

After his laughter died down he looked up to see everyone looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "What? I was laughing a joke someone told me."

'Liar!' Yelled Sakura in her mind.

"Ibiki, you need to stop taking it easy on these brats. There's at least twenty-six teams left this time!"

"What can I say, we had some pretty outstanding ones this year." Answered Ibiki.

"Bah, it don't matter. I'll at least cut them in half in the next exam." Replied Anko while grinning evilly. "But enough of that, time for a change of scenery, everyone follow me." With that the seventy-eight people filed out of the room.

The group walked for about a good ten minutes until they reached a fenced-in training ground. Though from where they were standing it didn't look too much like a training ground. It looked more like a giant forest with trees that rivaled the size of the some the buildings. All in all the place looked rather menacing to most people in the crowd.

"This is second stage for the Chuunin exam, Training Area 44. Also known as the Forest of Death." Said Anko in a menacing tone.

"… Looks fun." Said Naruto while trying to not show how nervous he was at the moment.

"It is, and you're about to see why it's called the Forest of Death." Answered Anko with a grin.

"Kiss my ass lady. This little forest don't scare me." Retorted Naruto.

Anko just continued to grin at him before the next thing Naruto knew she had thrown a kunai at him which grazed his cheek. That was also when he felt a hand grip his head to hold him still while a tongue went to lick the blood off his cheek.

"Kids like you are the first to be killed." Said the woman as she happily licked up his blood, "Yup the first to spill this lovely red blood I love so much."

The woman watched in amusement as the boy in her grasp was shocked speechless at her speed and a tad freaked at her licking his blood. She noted, with a bit of disappointment, that the cut she had given him was already healing up. That was when she felt a presence behind her and drew another kunai to face a woman with a sakkat and an overly long tongue holding out a kunai with said tongue.

"Here's your kunai you miss." Said the woman in an eerie tone.

"Why thank you." Replied Anko before taking her kunai back, "Though next time, I would recommend that you don't sneak up on me, unless of course you have a death wish."

"No, its just I get excited whenever I see blood. Besides you cut a bit of my precious hair and I couldn't help myself."

"Well, I guess we got a lot of blood thirsty ones this year. This could be fun, unlike last time." When she looked back down at Naruto she saw that he was gone and that he was hiding behind the girl with two buns while the said girl glared at her. Anko had to do her best not to laugh at the girl's glare before going into her trench coat and pulling out a stack of papers from one of the pockets inside.

"Before we begin the second exam I need you all to sign these forms. There'll be deaths in this exam and if you don't sign them it'll be my responsibility and I don't really like dealing with paperwork. But before you do that I'm going to explain the second exam and then each team will check in at the booth behind me."

"You will be attempting to live through the ultimate survival test. Each team will enter one of the fourty-four gates and head for the middle of the forest where you will find a tower. However, as you go through you have an objective you must complete. You are to do whatever means you may deem necessary obtain one of two scrolls, Heaven and Earth. Half of you will get one and the other half with get the other. To complete this test you must make it to the tower with both."

"So we not only have to get to survive this hellish forest but also obtain a scroll and get to the tower with both intact?" Asked Sasuke.

"Yeah that pretty much all there is to it though there is a time limit. You have five days to gain one of these scrolls and get to the tower before the fifth day."

"Five days!" Shrieked Ino.

"But what about food!" Shouted Choji.

"There is plenty to eat in the forest either that or you can kill an enemy and eat him or her. Now there are two ways you can fail this test. One is if you don't make it to the tower in those five days with both scrolls or don't show up at all. And two is if one of your teammates dies in the middle of the exam. Also, you must not look inside the scroll until you make it into the tower."

"What happens if you do look inside?" Asked Naruto curiously.

"Lets just say that if someone does then they are in for a big surprise." Answered Anko with a devilish smirk. "Well that's it for the explanations, sign the form and turn them in at the booth, then pick a gate and prepare to begin the next exam."

The moment she finished the Chuunin at the booth pulled a black curtain over the front of the stand so people couldn't look in. After that everyone went off to sign their sheets before walking over to the booth and getting their scroll.

Sasuke looked down at the scroll they had received. They had gotten a Heaven scroll so all they needed was an Earth and they were set. He looked over to see Naruto looking bored while Sakura looked nervous.

'There will be deaths in this exam. I don't know if Sakura can handle it but I know Naruto has done it before without much trouble. Well whatever the case we need to be careful in this forest and not let our guards down.' Thought Sasuke as he looked up at the hellhole they would be stuck in for five days.

"The second test of the Chuunin Exams will begin… now!" Yelled Anko before the Genin sped off into the forest.

Naruto and his team stopped when they heard the sound of screaming. While it might have been expected since the proctor said there would be deaths it didn't make it any easier for them to bear. Still, the thought of getting killed in the forest was fresh in their minds so the three man team trekked onward so as to get out of the open and find someplace where they could think up a good plan.

"Hey guys mind waiting here for a moment?" Asked Naruto suddenly.

"Why?" Asked Sakura.

"Do you really want to know?"

"Yes, dobe." Guess who.

"I got to pee alright. So just wait here." With that the boy went off behind a small bush and did his thing. As he was went to go back to his team he heard something coming up behind him. He turned to see a ninja from Ame rush up to him with a kunai in hand.

The man lunged forward and stabbed Naruto in the chest with his kunai only to be shocked when his kunai broke in half as it hit the blonde's cloak. Panicking, the man made an attempt to punch him in the face only receive a bone shattering uppercut to the jaw which sent him flying into the air. Just as he was about to start descending towards the ground saw the same blond come flying above him with his sword unsheathed and cut the attacker in half sending both parts in separate directions.

After Naruto landed onto the forest's floor and re-sheathed his sword he saw Sasuke and Sakura come out and see his cleaved enemy.

"What happened?" Asked Sasuke who was a little worried.

"Some asshole tried to kill me while I was taking a piss. I got him though so there's one team that's done for this exam."

"Does he have a scroll?" Asked Sasuke as he looked at the two pieces of the body.

Naruto didn't say anything to that, he instead walked over towards the body that had his equipment pouch and searched it. He grinned when he felt the only scroll in the pouch but then grumbled when he found it was a Heaven scroll.

"Damn it! Why couldn't you be an Earth scroll!" Yelled Naruto only to be punched in the head by Sakura who looked pissed off about something.

"Would you shut up!" Hissed Sakura. "If you haven't forgotten we're in a forest **full** of enemies and some of those teams might need a Heaven scroll. So shut up so we don't give away our position."

Naruto only laughed nervously at that while he nursed the bump on his head. Sasuke only shook his head at his teammate's actions before gesturing them both over to him.

"Alright we need a codeword that will help us incase an enemy tries to capture one of us. If we do this and the person gets it wrong assume they are the enemy." Sasuke stopped to make sure both were following before continuing. "When someone asks the nin song Nin Machine this is the answer you give them. A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the Shinobi, hide and remain silent. A Shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared."

"Got it." Answered Sakura.

"…I don't" Said Naruto sheepishly.

"Are you stupid, I already memorized it!"

"Hey I'm not as smart as you are so sue me!" Retorted Naruto, who was getting rather annoyed.

This caused the group to go silent until Sasuke started getting to his feet. With that Naruto looked back at the scroll he had taken from the Ame nin and tucked it away into his haori to keep it safe for a bit. That was when he felt the wind and he noticed that since they had gotten into the forest he had not felt the wind at all. His eyes widened and he was about to alert his teammates when it was too late and a giant gust of wind blew them in different directions.

**With Sasuke**

Sasuke eyed the area as he hid in a nearby bush. He had not seen Sakura or Naruto since the sudden gust of wind and was now thinking that they were killed off. The sound of a twig snapping made him turn to see Sakura looking uninjured.

"Sasuke-kun." Said a relieved Sakura.

"Stop!" Ordered the boy while holding up a kunai. "First the codeword, the nin song 'Nin Machine'."

"Right, a large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the Shinobi, hide and remain silent. A Shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared."

Sasuke nodded before lowering his kunai. "Good, now have you seen Naruto anywhere?"

Sakura shook her head in reply and went to answer when the sound of rustling leaves made her turn to a nearby bush. That was when a familiar blond appeared in the clearing looking battered and bruised.

"Hey guys." Said Naruto while grinning a bit. He went to make another step but was stopped when Sasuke threw a kunai at him.

"Codeword dobe." Ordered the Uchiha.

"Yeah, yeah teme I got it. A large amount of loud enemies is the friend of the Shinobi, hide and remain silent. A Shinobi must understand the proper time, when the enemy is tired and ill prepared." Answered Naruto.

Sakura sighed while Sasuke smirked at the answerer. Just then Sasuke jumped forward and delivered a kick right into the blonde's face. Sakura looked shocked while Naruto looked surprised.

"What the hell was that for teme!"

"You're not Naruto. Even if he has improved he's still an idiot and I know for a fact he couldn't remember that codeword."

'Yeah that's true.' Thought Sakura dully. 'He probably would have said he forgot it.'

'Naruto' Smirked before disappearing in a puff of smoke. In his place stood the same girl who had the freakishly long tongue and was now smiling in the same way the proctor from before did.

"So you relied on your teammates dimwittedness to lure me out? This is going to be more entertaining than I thought."

**With Naruto**

Naruto groggily got back to his feet. He had just barely managed to avoid going too far away from his original position but was still too far to know where they were. Still he had plenty of time to find them so with that he focused some youki into his sense of touch and placed his hand on the ground.

He immedeatly saw outlines of countless things scattered around but ignored them as he continued to search for his teammates. He continued to focus until he found an outline of someone who had a hair style of a chickens rear end. He instantly noted that it was Sasuke and also noticed that Sakura was there too but then he found a third person nearby and began to panic.

'Their under attack! I got to hurry up and get there before the other guy's teammates show up!'

With this thought in mind he prepared to set off when he felt a presence behind him. He turned around to see the sight of a **very** big snake come slithering towards him. The snake hissed at him a few times before lunging at him intending to eat him whole. Naruto jumped over the snake only to get swatted into a nearby tree by the snake's tail. He gritted his teeth in an attempt to keep from screaming in pain but had to dodge another lunge of the snake trying to eat him.

Naruto quickly unsheathed his sword before transforming it into its true form and jumping into the air above the snake. He then raised his sword into a stabbing position before thrusting it forward hitting the snake in-between the eyes and killing it instantly. Once the snake collapsed onto the ground Naruto pulled his sword out of the snake's skull and transforming it back into its katana form and sheathing it. After that he made a mad dash towards the location of his teammates all the while praying that they weren't dead.

**Back with Sasuke and Sakura**

The strange woman smirked at them as she pulled out a scroll from her equipment pouch. She then held it out in front of her before asking, "You want this right? The Earth scroll since you have the Heaven." The moment she finished she brought the scroll to her mouth before devouring the said scroll.

"Then lets fight for each other's scroll, with our lives on the line." Finished the woman before sending an enormous amount of killing intent at them.

That was when both Sasuke and Sakura saw their lives flash before their eyes or, to be more specific, their deaths. To them, every second they saw it they felt it as well. The fear, the blood, the pain then just as quickly as it came it all disappeared. The only thing that remained was fear which still gripped the two's hearts.

'This is no Genjutsu.' Thought Sasuke before vomiting, 'this is pure fear. The sheer amount of killing intent she sent us made us see our own deaths. W-who is girl and why is she after us?'

"Sakura." When he received no reply he looked over to see Sakura shaking violently while tears were pouring down the sides of her face. 'This is bad, I have to get us out of here before we both get killed!' Thought Sasuke as he pulled a kunai out of his kunai holster.

"I'm guessing you can't move right now. What a shame," Said the woman. "This isn't any fun at all. I guess I'll just finish you off right now." With that said she pulled out two kunai before tossing them lazily at the two shaken Genin.

'Come on move!' At the last moment Sasuke stabbed his kunai deep into his leg before grabbing Sakura and dashing off into the forest in order to gain some distance from the murderous wench.

When he felt he had gotten a safe distance away from the woman he knelt down on a branch before pulling out the kunai he embedded into his leg. He winced in pain before looking out for the woman with his Sharingan activated.

"Sasuke-kun, your leg looks really hurt. Let me help yo-" The girl was cut off by Sasuke's hand covering her mouth as he continued to look out for the woman.

'He's terrified right now. I've never seen him act this way before.' Thought Sakura.

Just then she noticed an overly large snake above them and went to warn Sasuke but couldn't do to the hand on her mouth. Finally she moved it away and yelled, "Sasuke-kun, a snake!" The boy turned before dashing off the branch the moment the snake went to attack him and Sakura.

'Damn it, I was panicking so much I forgot to be aware of my surroundings.' Thought the boy as he continued to avoid the snake that seemed to be going for only him.

Sasuke then grabbed a few kunai and shuriken before tossing them at the snake's head aiming to at least kill the thing. To his relief the snake hissed back before falling onto a nearby branch. His relief was short lived however, when some of the snake's scales started cracking and pushing as though something was coming out of it. To their horror, the woman from before came forth from the snakes body while grinning at them menacingly.

"You two shouldn't be relaxing since you are the prey. And prey must do everything they can to get away from a predator like me." Said the woman before slithering, not running, slithering towards them. However, her progress was stopped by a kunai that had an explosive tag attached to it.

"That was easy." Said a voice from above Sasuke and Sakura. When the two looked up they saw their teammate, who was grinning at them while giving them the victory sign.

"Good job Naruto!" Congratulated Sakura.

"Yes, good job," came a voice from the smoke. All eyes turned to see that the woman was looking as though nothing happened. She was now staring at Naruto in amusement as she dusted herself off. "That attack would have worked on any other opponent but not me. Though I will hand it to you, you caught me off guard. Plus it seems you got by my snake, very good."

"Oh bite me lady!" Yelled Naruto.

"Naruto, don't fight her!" Shouted Sasuke which got him a curious look from the blond. With a sigh he deactivated his Sharingan and went into his weapons pouch before pulling out the Heaven scroll. "This is what you want right? Then I'll give it to you then you leave us alone."

"What!" Shouted Naruto.

The woman only chuckled before speaking. "Yes, giving the predator a new meal will give the prey the time to escape. Yes, a very wise choice Sasuke."

"Whatever, just take it!" Yelled Sasuke before tossing it towards the woman. Naruto however, had different plans. He quickly raced forward and seized the scroll mid air, and landed beside Sasuke. The said boy was now glaring at Naruto with absolute outrage, and yet before he could say anything Naruto was already giving him his very own glare.

"What's wrong with you? Don't you see this is what she wants?" Asked the blonde "She wants you to panic, she wants you to be afraid, so that you make the wrong decisions. Don't let her do that to you Sasuke, hide your fear and fight back with me and maybe we can beat her."

Sasuke looked back at him and saw that the boy had no malice in his voice nor in his glare. It wasn't disappointment either, it was wisdom coming off those eyes. That was when he realized that he had let his fears of death cloud his judgment and almost caused them to be killed. With this in mind, Sasuke's face went from panic and fear, to determination and bravery.

"Right" Answered Sasuke at last before reactivating his Sharingan.

"Well, I see that someone had the fight return to his eyes. Then lets begin anew shall we?" Said the woman with the amused grin still planted on her face.

Naruto turned to face his opponent slowly while focusing on youki to trigger his transformation. Now he stood in his transformed state glaring at the snake woman with his golden slitted eyes. He then unsheathed his sword before charging her with his sword reared back for a horizontal strike. The woman effortlessly jumped over the silver haired child and also dodged the Uchiha's kick to her face.

The moment Sasuke touched down on the surface of the branch he quickly turned to face her and dashed forward in an attempt to hit his opponent once again. He gritted his teeth when she blocked his kick with her forearm before grabbing his ankle and tossing him into a nearby tree trunk which made him spit up a bit of blood do to the impact.

When Naruto saw that his teammates attack failed he quickly did a cross shaped seal before shouting. "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" _In an instant five clones appeared on the branch, all of which were holding their own swords before all six charged the woman. This tactic was shot down as she continued to dodge his clone's attacks before punching his clones while making them puff out of existence. Finally Naruto was the only one left standing. A second later Sasuke appeared beside him looking a little beat up but still ok to fight.

"_**This is getting us nowhere**_." Said Naruto.

"You see why I didn't fight her before?" Asked Sasuke.

"_**Yeah but that's what makes it more fun right?"**_

"Whatever, you got a plan or are we going to keep doing this until she kills us?"

"_**I'm working on it**_."

"Well you better hurry up, otherwise we might not make it much longer."

"_**Yeah, yeah don't worry I'll think of something.**_" Said Naruto before changing his sword into its Zanbato form. This seemed to grab the woman's attention as her eyes widened at the sight of his sword.

The moment Naruto saw this he charged hoping to catch her off guard. He was mistaken since she jumped over the blade and delivered a kick to the back of the blonde's head sending him down to the ground. She was, however, not expecting her feet to be swept up from under her by Sasuke. The said boy then jumped into the air before flashing through a few seals before shouting his own jutsu. "_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" _

After calling his jutsu Sasuke fired five fire balls about the same size as a human skull towards his downed enemy. The woman however, managed to get away since once the smoke cleared all that remained was mud. Focusing chakra to his feet, the boy stuck to one of the nearby branches and kept a close eye out for his opponent. She appeared soon after and went to punch him only for him to jump, dodge it, and deliver a knee to her gut.

"Naruto, now!" Yelled Sasuke before jumping away.

She looked up to see a ghostly blue flame coming towards her. She was thankful she managed to get away only to feel some of the fabric on her outfit get scorched by the mysterious fire. She turned her attention to the direction that the fire came from only to see Naruto with his sword reared back over his head before swinging down upon her. She jumped over to the boy's left and saw that the sword had cleaved right through the thick branch as though it was butter. He then turned towards her and made a mad dash at her with his sword reared back again at a horizontal angle.

Naruto swung his blade and snarled when he missed her again. He was running low on time since he still couldn't hold the form for more than fifteen minutes before returning to his Hanyou form. Thinking quickly he held out his index and his middle fingers before focusing his own youki into them. In a few seconds his two fingers began to glow yellowish green before making a small strand of youki.

During his training for the past month, Naruto was given this exercise as a way to better his youki control. Taishou had stated that it was not only a training method but also a weapon since pure youki was deadly and having it concentrated made things even deadlier.

So as he did this he saw Sasuke fighting off against the strange woman in a taijutsu battle. At the moment it looked like Sasuke was fairing well until she grabbed his fist when he went to punch her and was given a sharp kick to his chin making him fall back. That was when Naruto struck by sending his youki whip towards the woman who had most of her attention on the Uchiha. The moment his whip made contact he smirked when it hit her back, which got him a grunt of pain from her, and causing the back of her shirt to rip, but not cut her flesh. That was only down side to this, since he had just started getting the hang of this exercise three days ago, he had yet to make his whip strong enough to cut through objects like Taishou had shown him.

She glared at Naruto before charging him with incredible speed. He lashed his whip out at her a few times only for her to dodge them since she was going at such high speeds. After getting close enough she dodged another swing of his sharp sword and punched him with great force into a nearby tree trunk. Before he could even get his bearings she was already on him as she outstretched her tongue, wrapped it around his ankle, and slammed him onto the branch they were standing on.

Naruto gasped as the air was knocked out of him only to receive a kick to his gut that made him go threw the branch and fall towards another which she preparing to make him go threw again. However, before she could get to him she had been punched hard in the face by Sasuke, who had been waiting for the right moment to attack, and was sent into a trunk. Going into his equipment pouch, he pulled out three shurikens before tossing them at her. She went to protect herself since she was still embedded in the trunk only to see the shuriken whiz pass her. That was when she noticed that the shuriken had wires attached to them only to be ensnared by the said wire.

"_**Looks like the predator is trapped, guess its time for barbecued snake right Sasuke." **_Said Naruto as he got to his feet.

"Heh, I agree with you there dobe. You want to help cook it?" Asked an amused Sasuke.

"_**Don't mind if I do."**_ Answered Naruto before focusing chakra to his lungs while focusing youki into his mouth.

Sasuke himself flashed through more seals before landing on the Tiger seal and shouted, "_Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!_"

The instant the jutsu was called Naruto released his _Kitsune-bi, _which made the ghostly blue flame appear once more. As the two boy's fired their techniques Sakura watched as both flames merged to make a light blue flame as it came closer towards the target. The moment it hit a shriek of pain was heard as the victim felt its blazing heat come straight at her. When the flames died down both boys looked back at the sight of a huge hole in the tree and the target slouched over slightly.

"_**Good job teme, we missed!" **_

"Don't complain, at least we got her."

"Got who?" Asked the woman as she looked up at them again. That was when they saw a portion of the woman's face was burnt off revealing a pale white face, with strange purple marks by his eyes, and a yellow slitted eye. The woman chuckled then her voice changed into a male chuckle. It was a bizarre moment that the boys would never forget as long as they lived.

"You both have entertained me greatly. I always knew that the Uchiha was going to be this strong but for the Uzumaki to be just as strong is incredible. However, I'm afraid I must finish this now since I've seen what both of you can do."

"_**We'll see about that!" **_Shouted Naruto before charging him with his sword reared back. However, once he reached striking distance the man had simply parried to the side before before grabbing his arm and braking it then used his tongue to grasp a hold of the silver haired child. The said child gritted his teeth in pain as continued to struggle for a moment until he felt his shirt being lifted up to show the seal placed on his abdomen.

"So it appears the seal is visible, well I can have you get in my way so I'll leave you with a gift." Said the man as he started doing some seals. He then pulled his hand back to show purple flames on the tips of his fingers before slamming them on the seal while saying, "_Gogyou Fuuin!_"

Naruto screamed in pain as the purple flames hit his abdomen and could feel his Youkai form fading. He felt the tongue around him loosen before being tossed onto the branch. The man then turned his attention onto the Uchiha who was panting due to the fact that he was almost out of chakra. Just as he was about to approach him he heard a gasping of breath behind him and turned to see the silver haired boy using the Tessaiga as a crutch and staring at the ground.

"_**Sorry, Hebi-teme.**_" Gasped out the boy while slowly raising his head up._** "But you sealed up the wrong demon."**_ Finished the boy as he looked up at the man's face.

The man just smirked as he eyed the boy with a bored look on his face. He knew that Naruto was on his last leg since his arm was hung limply by his side and that his eyes were glazed over.

'**Naruto-san, you cannot last any longer.' **Said a worried Taishou.

'Don't worry, I want to at least get one good hit on him before I pass out.'

'**You do not even have the strength to lift up Tessaiga, let alone use it.'**

'I will hit him…just need one more shot.'

Naruto grunted as he heaved his sword upon his shoulder before staring at the man. "_**I don't know… who you are… or… why you're after us… but, I'll at least… hurt you… one… good… time, before I… pass out.**_" Gasped out Naruto.

The man seemed to smirk as he looked at Naruto with boredom clearly visible in his eyes. "Oh really, well then please, show me."

Naruto gasped a few times before his vision got blurry. That was when he felt time stopped again. He looked around and saw that there was someone coming towards him. The man in question was giving him a proud look. He was wearing a red hitoe and a matching red hakama with a white obi. To add to his confusion the man had long silver hair just like Taishou along with golden eyes with slitted pupils. The most noticeable thing about him though were the two dog ears poking out of his head.

The man continued to smirk at him as he came closer towards him. Naruto didn't know what to make of the man so all he did was stay rooted to the spot until the man stopped right in front of him.

"_**T-taishou?"**_ asked Naruto nervously

The man simply shook his head before speaking in a gruff and somewhat arrogant tone. "Heh, you kidding, I don't look nothing like my old man."

"_**W-who are you then?**_"

The man's smile never faltered, if anything it grew. "My name is not what's important right now. What is important is that you have my sword."

**_"Ok, now I'm getting confused. Who's sword is this and why are you here?"_**

The man's eye seemed to twitch before he bopped Naruto pretty hard on the head. "Get it strait kid, its my sword and the only reason I'm here is becuase you have it."

**_"That still doesn't explain why you're here."_**

"Look I'm here to do you a small favor alright. So be damn greatful I'm doing this you brat."

**_"Hey don't call me a brat you damn...wait, what favor?_**"

"This one." After he said that he pulled a clawed hand up and tapped the Tessaiga with one of his claws and Naruto felt the familiar pulsing of the sword. "Now that my part has been played I got to get going brat." Said the man as he went to walk away.

"_**Wait!**_" the man stopped and turned to face him "_**Are you going to be in the seal with Taishou and Kyuubi?**_"

The man only smirked before turning towards the path and continued walking. Just as he was about to leave his sights he and gave a small wave over his shoulder before disappearing.

"Well boy, I'm waiting." Said the man smugly.

Naruto didn't know what it was, but something inside him made him turn towards the man with a new look in his eyes. Suddenly he felt the Tessaiga pulse again and felt his limbs moving on their own accord. Soon after he had his sword reared back while the sword admitted a bright yellowish glow.

"_**Sasuke, move out of the way**_." Said the red cloaked youth.

Even if he was confused, Sasuke did what he was told and, with great difficulty, moved away from where he previously was. Not long after Naruto's glazed eyes locked with the man's and with one last look, took a mighty swing towards the man.

The effects of that swing were chaotic as three separate beams of youki came rocketing towards the horrified man. At the last moment he quickly bit his thumb and spread the blood across the strange tattoo before calling out, "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu!_" A moment later a giant snake appeared while the three beams of light came closer towards them.

The man's shock was doubled when the three beams hit the snake causing it to be cleaved into three separate pieces. He was so shocked by the display of power that he didn't even feel one of the beams hit his left arm which was cut clean off. As the three beams left the small area a small explosion was heard behind them and if one were to go and check they would find that a small portion of the forest was now gone.

'Such power!' Thought the man as he surveyed his arm and the snake. 'I must get that sword or at least him in my possession!'

With that in mind he looked back at the boy who was now gasping for breath with Sasuke and Sakura beside him.

"Very good Naruto-kun, along with you Sasuke-kun. You have both done exceptionally well against me. Now I would like to leave you both with a little parting gift." With that said the man formed an odd seal with his only hand before outstretching his neck and lunging at the Uchiha and bit him on the neck. He then went for Naruto and bit him on the neck as well. He then reverted back to his body and looked to see what seals they had received. Sasuke had a seal that looked like three black tomos while Naruto had one that looked like three black diamond shapes.

'Odd, I've never seen that one produced before.' Thought the man.

The screams of pain coming from both boys rung through his ears and couldn't help but smirk as he watched the only member of Team Seven panic before looking at him with a glare.

"What did you do to them!" Yelled Sakura.

"I merely left them a gift. Both of them will seek me out once they realize what I can grant them."

"Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Orochimaru, and now that I have done what I came here for I will take my leave." With that the man now known as Orochimaru sunk into the ground all the while chuckling like a madman.

After he left Sakura went to check up on her two teammates and found that both of them were gripping at the same spot on their necks.

"What do I do?" wondered Sakura as she tried to help both boys out of the area and into a place they could hide.

**Inside Naruto's Mind**

In a dark room somewhere in the depths of Naruto's mind, a figure held up by numerous amounts of chains hung on the ceiling of the room. The said figure was hanging limply in the chains with his eyes closed, most likely asleep. His eyes suddenly snapped open before a crazed smile appeared on his face. Strange black markings began to appear all around his body, starting from his neck, until he was almost completely covered in them.

"Baka." Said the figure. However, his voice seemed to be to be a mixture of two people talking at one time. He tugged on the chains causing some of them to fall off the ceiling.

"Soon Naruto, you will succumb to the evil that resides in you. And then…your soul will belong to me."

* * *

_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu_ Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique

_Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu_ Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique

_Kitsune-bi_ Fox Fire

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ Shadow Clone Technique

_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_ Summoning Technique

_Gogyou Fuunin_ Five Element Seal

Bloody chapter took way too damn long to write. Anyway I hope you all like the chapter and sorry for anyone who finds having two exams in one chapter annoying. I really didnt want to do that myself but if I did it seperate then it would be too short and I hate writing short chapters. Also next chapter you will finally get to see what chained up Naruto can do and for those who dont like the idea of Naruto getting a curse seal can just kiss my ass. Oh and one last thing sorry I didnt give you guys a description of the rookie nine but I just didnt feel like doing it but just know that they are wearing the same outfits they were wearing in the cannon.

So R&R or I'll make Naruto go all emo and have him kill himself. (Can you tell I'm losing my touch.)


	9. Sound Attacks and the Curse Appears

Yo people! Sorry for the long as hell wait. (Hides behind Sakura as rocks are thrown at me) I would like to say in my defense that I had SOL's this month so I didn't have much time to write do to work and my studies since my parents had threatened to ban me from my computer if I didn't do my studying. So please understand my situation and be greatful that I managed to get this chapter finished.

Also someone asked if I was going to put a Lemon in this story. Now I don't know if I can do that but I'm willing to give it a shot so long as people agree to it. So the choice is all up to you, the readers. Now if I do end up doing a lemon scene I don't want anybody do send me any disterbing reviews and I'm leaving it at that. Now on with the story!

"Speaking" Normal Talk

'Speaking' Thinking

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_"Speaking" _Jutsu Being Called

**_"Speaking" _**Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Sakura was in a dilemma and she knew it. The fact that both of her teammates were unconscious and that they were in a forest full of enemies with the only cover that they had was an uprooted part of a huge tree. She sighed before replacing the wetted cloths on both boys' foreheads.

She looked down sadly at Sasuke's whimpering form. Both boys had stopped screaming in pain an hour ago, but now had a severe fever that was plaguing them both in their unconsciousness. Sakura glanced over towards Naruto before letting out a depressed sigh.

'Why did this have to happen?' thought the girl as she continued to stare at Naruto's shivering form. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto was not faring well against whatever Orochimaru had done to them both. Though he was in just as much pain as her crush, due to the broken arm which she had placed in a small sling, and had the same fever, something else was happening while the blonde was unconscious. Strange diamond shaped marks kept on appearing on the blonde as he slept. Sometimes he would even awaken for a brief moment before passing out again.

If that wasn't bad enough, when he was asleep the marks would return and start to scatter around the blonde with no clear pattern before stopping and receding back to the origin of the mark. This would happen every five minutes before he would awaken and pass out once more. Now Sakura might not know what was going on but she knew well enough that if Sasuke wasn't going through the same thing that meant that something was wrong.

She eyed the curse mark that was located on the same spot as Sasuke's was before looking down at his now covered abdomen with a raised eyebrow.

"_Gogyou Fuuin_?" muttered Sakura aloud, "What could Orochimaru be sealing that would be involving Naruto?"

It had been the question that had been plaguing her mind since she got the two boys to safety. What was Orochimaru planning to seal? She doubted that it was for sealing his bloodline since that was virtually impossible to the best of her knowledge. So she deduced that it was for sealing off the main chakra points in his stomach in a similar way that the Hyuuga cut off chakra with the _Juuken._

'But if that's the case then how was he able to use that last attack…' that was when she remembered Naruto saying something before he launched that attack.

Flashback

"_**Sorry, Hebi-teme,"**_ gasped out the boy while slowly raising his head up,_** "-but you sealed up the wrong demon,"**_ and then he grinned an evil rictus.

End Flashback

'That's another thing: what did Naruto mean when he said that?' the girl wondered, as she started to change the boys' cloths again.

She didn't know what else to do for them at the moment. So, with a sigh, she sat down on the ground with her back against the tree trunk and closed her eyes to get some sleep.

A few moments later Naruto awakened with a shocked look on his face, before gritting his teeth while grabbing the spot where Orochimaru had bitten him. As he did this, the diamond shaped marks began to appear all around his body before stopping in random places on his body. He looked over at Sakura to see her sleeping soundly against the tree trunk.

"_Kill her,"_ whispered a voice.

For some reason the pain intensified as he heard the voice speak to him. He tried to keep from shouting out in pain but as the seconds ticked by it was getting harder and harder to do.

"_Kill her now." _

"N-no," groaned out Naruto through gritted teeth.

"_Kill her NOW!"_

With that Naruto yelled out in agony as he intensified the grip on the seal, while his claws dug into his skin in hopes of ending the pain. To his relief, the marks began to recede back to its origins before collapsing onto the ground into blissful unconsciousness.

However, his shout of pain did reach the ears of Sakura who had abruptly woken up just in time to see Naruto fall back onto the forest floor. She sighed again before walking over to check up on his fever.

**Not Far Away**

"Was that the Uchiha?" a long haired Kunoichi asked.

"I doubt it, sounded like someone else," answered a Ninja whose head was completely covered in bandages. "Regardless, whoever it was, it means that the only one still able to fight is the girl."

"Which makes our job all the easier," said the last member of the team smugly.

"Should we attack them now, Dosu?" the Kunoichi questioned.

The man now identified as Dosu shook his head in reply, "Not yet, we wait 'til she can barely keep her eyes open before we attack."

This caused the other member to groan at his decision. "Come on Dosu, that pathetic leaf Nin isn't that strong. Hell she don't even look like she could take on an academy student, let alone us."

"I second that motion Zaku."

"Well I don't," snapped Dosu, "I would rather not deal with unnecessary conflict. I would much rather just run in, kill them all while they are at their weakest state, and leave. Though I do agree with you that she does look weak, I would rather wait until she can't even put up a fight."

The other two members were silent for a moment before nodding their heads in agreement. Dosu sighed before looking back at the spot their target lay in wait. 'Soon, our mission will be complete and I can finally get out of this hell hole.'

**An Hour Later**

Sakura sat down with a look of exhaustion clearly visible on her face. She had been awake since yesterday and had only taken time to get a few short naps in before having to keep a look out for any enemy Ninja. Sakura sighed again as she felt her eyes begin to gradually close.

That was when she heard the sound of a twig snapping and turned to see a squirrel scurrying towards her. She let out a soft sigh of relief before her eyes widened and hastily tossed a kunai at the squirrel. Lucky for the squirrel, it hit the spot right in front of it causing it to squeak in surprise before scurrying off elsewhere.

She sighed as she watched it leave her sight before going back to keeping watch. Her eyes slowly began to fall as sleep was creeping up on her when she heard a low chuckle coming from in front of her.

When she looked up she saw the same three Oto Nin that attacked Kabuto in the first exam, two of whom had cocky smirks on their faces. The only member who wasn't was the one covered in bandages, but she had a good feeling that he was doing the same.

"Hehe, looks like someone's been up all night," said an amused Dosu.

"Now if you don't mind, wake up the Uchiha. We're here to fight him," came Zaku's smug remark.

Sakura quickly whipped out a kunai from its holster before glaring at the three, as if daring them to come closer to her.

"What did Orochimaru do to Sasuke, and Naruto?" she yelled. She noticed that all three of their eyes widened slightly before continuing, "So you do work for that Hebi after all. Then tell me what that mark he put on them is!"

The group of Sound Nin stayed silent for a moment as they processed the information that was just given to them. The fact that Orochimaru never said anything about giving the Uchiha a Cursed Seal struck them as odd. The fact that two people had one made it even stranger to them.

"I wonder what that man is up to…" muttered Dosu, before pushing those thoughts aside for the moment.

"Well, now that you told us this bit of information we can't let you live. Or the Uchiha for that matter," said Zaku as he prepared to charge the girl.

"Wait, Zaku!" ordered Dosu. The man then walked cautiously towards her before stopping where the kunai she threw at the squirrel was before kneeling down to feel the grass. "This soil looks like it's been disturbed and grass doesn't grow right here. So it looks to me that you have a badly set trap for us."

Sakura was now sweating which in turn caused the three Oto Ninja to smirk before leaping over towards her. Almost as soon as they leapt she smirked before using the kunai in her hand to cut a single wire on a kunai next to her, thus setting off another trap.

The second the wire was cut, a giant log came flying toward the three Ninja in midair. The three were indeed slightly surprised by the second trap but quickly recomposed themselves as Dosu placed his hand on the log and focused chakra into his gauntlet. The results were shocking to Sakura, as the log split in two thus destroying the obstacle in their way as they continued their descent on the Kunoichi.

Just when she thought she was going to die, a shout of "_Konoha Senpuu"_ briefly took away her fears, as a green blur shot through the tree lines as delivered a kick to each member of the Oto Nin, making each go skidding across the area away from Sakura and the shelter.

The green blur then appeared in front of her while staring the three Nin down with a noticeable smirk on his face.

'Lee!' thought a very thankful Sakura.

"Who the hell are you?" asked an angry Zaku as he nursed the small bruise on his cheek.

"I'm the beautiful green beast of Konoha, Rock Lee!" proclaimed the greed clad Genin.

Bewildered, Sakura asked, "W-why are you here?"

The boy chuckled slightly before saying, in all seriousness, "I will… always appear whenever you're in danger...Sakura-chan." He then reached up towards his shoulder before gently grabbing the squirrel and placing it on the ground. 'It is all thanks to you, little buddy.'

"Well…thank you, Lee, for saving me."

"I said it once before…" said Lee while still facing the three Sound Genin, "I'll protect you until the day I die."

Sakura only smiled at this before hearing Naruto groan in his sleep. She turned to see the marks begin to appear again but was afraid that if she moved to help him, she would be vulnerable to at least one of the Sound Nin attacks. So, with great effort, she turned her full attention on the three Sound Nin while rummaging through her hip pouch for more kunai.

Meanwhile Dosu was giving the green clad boy a once over. He could tell that the boy was skilled since he came out of the forest in an impressive display of speed. Not only that but he also managed to knock all three of them back without much effort.

'Still,' thought Dosu as he prepared to advance on his opponent, 'He's no mach for the likes of all three of us.'

With that in mind he darted forward while rearing his arm back to strike the green clad Genin. The said boy did nothing until he was half way towards him before slamming his hand into the ground and pulled out a giant root. This made Dosu's eyes widen before striking the root, causing a big chunk of it to blow off.

"I've seen how you fight once before," stated Lee, "So don't think I'll just let you hit me with those attacks."

Dosu scoffed as he landed before rushing forward again, only this time he was ready for what he knew was coming. Just when he was in striking range, Lee dashed forward and sent a right hook to the bandaged man's face. Dosu moved to dodge only to be faked out and was hit in the ribs by a powerful kick. Growing annoyed Dosu quickly got to his feet only to jump to avoid a strong punch which left a small hole in the place where he was once standing.

After pulling his arm out of the ground, Lee turned to face his opponent only to be forced to duck under a punch from Dosu. He was glad to note that he wasn't using the arm with gauntlet as he swept Dosu's feet from under him before grabbing his left arm and tossed him into a nearby tree.

Dosu gritted his teeth in annoyance as he climbed out of the small crater he made in the tree before dashing forward once more. He saw Lee preparing to attack so he decided a change in plans was in order.

Lee saw Dosu rear his right arm back. As he prepared to counter it he was surprised when he went to block the arm, but was hit hard in the face by Dosu's left hook.

'He faked me out,' thought Lee as he quickly got to his feet. He turned around to find that his enemy was nowhere to be seen. That was when he felt a presence behind him and felt a strong kick hit him in the ribs before a hand grasped the side of his head and slammed him onto the hard earth.

Dosu quickly jumped back into the woods before smirking to himself. He would admit that he wasn't as fast as his opponent, but he was fast enough to at least get behind him undetected. After all, he was considered an assassin with his gauntlet since it was supposed to be used to kill enemies quickly, not stall it out for this long.

Lee slowly got back to his feet as he looked around for his target. Just then he felt the presence again and turned only to see Dosu's arm reared back.

'Sorry Gai-sensei,' thought Lee as he undid his bandages as quickly as he could, 'But I must use that jutsu.'

Just as Dosu was about to strike, Lee disappeared from his view before he was hit hard in the chin. Lee then dashed after him as his bandages began to wrap themselves around the Sound Nin. Lee then started spinning at slow speeds before they gradually sped up to where it looked the two were a drill of some sort.

"Take this! _Omote Renge_!" yelled Lee.

Zaku, who was now finishing up a few seals, was about to aid his teammate when he noticed a volley of kunai and shuriken approaching him. Cursing under his breath, he slammed one hand into the ground before pointing his open palm at the fast approaching projectiles.

Just the weapons were about to hit, a strong gale of wind blew them off course, making them all fall harmlessly onto the ground. While he did this, he sent another wave of air towards where he estimated Dosu was going to be slammed. His estimation was found correct as the boy slammed his partner into the ground which caused a small crater where Dosu lay unmoving.

After a few more moments, Dosu's body flinched slightly before he slowly got back to his feet all the while panting and grunting in pain.

"Damn, that almost did me in. Thanks, Zaku, for the padding, otherwise I would have died." gasped out Dosu as he looked at his opponent whom also looked rather exhausted.

"Seems like that attack took a lot out of you, huh?" asked Dosu, who was slightly amused.

Lee only panted harder before giving the Sound Nin a small smile, "Seems you're just as tired as I am."

This only caused Dosu to chuckle slightly. "Fool, I don't die that easily. But enough of this, you have gotten on my last nerve, so I'm going to finish you off now."

With that he charged forward while rearing his arm back once more. Lee went to dodge only to hiss in pain as the aftermath of the jutsu he used had kicked in. He looked up just in time to see Dosu take a swing at him. He was thankful that he could avoid getting hit, if only by a little bit, only for his vision to become blurry and his ears to bleed.

"H-how did you?"

"Simple," interrupted Dosu, "I used vibrations to break through your eardrums and damage the inner ear membrane to make you lose your balance. That's why you cannot function properly for a little while."

Zaku then pulled his palms up to show two little holes in the middle of his hands, and snidely commented, "My specialty is that I can control super sonic sound waves and air pressure as freely as I wish. To us, your jutsu are almost laughable."

"Well it's been fun playing with you kid, but we got more important things to do," said Dosu as he reared his arm to strike again, "Goodbye kid, and thanks for the good fight."

Just as he went to swing he felt a powerful punch hit him square in the jaw sending him back a couple feet. He looked up wide eyed to see Sakura standing by Lee with her fist raised with a fierce look in her eyes.

"Ah, so it looks like she can do something after all," stated Zaku.

Sakura panted slightly as she glared at the three Sound Nin. She knew she wouldn't win but she would be damned if she let Lee die because of her.

"S-sakura-chan?" asked a wide eyed Lee.

"Don't worry, I got a way to hold them off for a bit," said Sakura as she gave him a small smile.

"Hey Kin, you want to take a crack at her?" asked Zaku as he helped his fallen teammate back to his feet.

The Kunoichi only smirked before dashing forward to punch the pink haired girl. Said girl ducked under her punch and delivered a punch to her gut before giving her an uppercut to the chin. Kin flew back in a daze, not because of the attack but because of the fact that she had underestimated her opponent. She noticed that Sakura was rushing forward with impressive speed but nothing that made her worry.

Once Kin landed she blocked the punch that was sent at her with her forearm before pushing the fist away and punching Sakura in the nose, causing the girl to falter. Taking advantage of this she quickly kneed the girl in the gut before kicking the back of her legs, causing her to fall to her knees, before grabbing the girl by the hair and pulling it back as painfully as she could.

"Well, well, look what we have here: her hair seems softer than mine. If you have time to treat your hair you can train you little bitch," Kin scowled, "Hey Zaku, let's kill that Sasuke guy in front of this little bitch in heat."

"Good idea," answered the boy, as he made his way toward where the shelter was located.

**Not Far Away**

In a bush not far away, the Ino-Shika-Cho team was gazing in worry as they watched the whole fight since Lee arrived. Shikamaru glanced at his female teammate in frustration. Even though it was troublesome, they needed to be out there and helping them.

"Ino," said Shikamaru, "What do you want to do?"

Ino just remained silent as she watched the Sound Nin approach the shelter. She just didn't know what to do. One part of her was screaming for her to go out and help her old friend. The other half was reluctant to do so as she still remembered the day Sakura gave back her ribbon.

"What do you guys think?" she asked as she turned to face them.

Both boys looked at her and noticed how worried she looked at the moment. She never did this unless it was something either frightening or embarrassing. The two could only assume that she was scared of being killed by the three Sound Nin.

After a minute of silence, Choji spoke. "I say we help them."

Both Shikamaru and Ino looked at him in surprise as they watched Choji throw an unopened bag of chips over shoulder.

"You're serious?" asked Ino.

"Yes," answered the chubby boy with a serious look in his eye. "I want to help them since I know they would help us if we were in danger. Besides I don't like it when men hit women."

Ino and Shikamaru turned around to see Sakura getting pummeled in the face by the Zaku, who had a kunai jabbed in his forearm and had his other hand being bitten at to keep him from using it.

That was when Ino schooled her features and climbed to her feet. She looked over towards Shikamaru and saw a look of determination flash into his eyes. "Let's get out there."

**Back with Sakura**

After several bashings to the face, Zaku had finally managed to get the pink haired girl off him. He turned his palms to face her only to feel three presences coming fast.

"Zaku, look out!" exclaimed Dosu.

Zaku turned around to see a giant bandaged fist come flying at him. He was fortunate to move out of the way in time, only to dodge a barrage of kunai that was sent towards him. He looked up to see a kid with a white scarf cycling through seals before stopping on Tori.

"_Bubun Baika no Jutsu_!"

After calling out his jutsu Choji reared his fist back before swinging it in the direction of the Sound Nin. Instantly, his fist became huge as it came closer towards Zaku who was too late to dodge. Instead, the boy raised his palms in the air and focused air pressure out towards his opponent. To his delight, it worked as the attack slowly stopped before it started pushing the attack upwards.

Seeing as how his jutsu wasn't working Choji canceled the jutsu before landing on the forest floor. He looked up in time to dodge another air pressure blast coming from the Sound Nin before flashing through a few new seals.

"_Baika no Jutsu_! Followed by _Nikudan Sensha_!"

Zaku could only gape in amazement as the chubby kid's stomach grew bigger before his head and arms disappeared inside the boy's shirt, which made him look like a giant green ball. Said ball then came rolling towards him, whilst crushing everything in its path.

"Damn it!" yelled Zaku as he jumped out of the way of the attack.

Once the green ball of blubber rolled past him he turned to see Choji make a U-turn and come straight towards him once more. Thinking quickly, Zaku lifted his arms up and blasted the boy only to find that the air pressure wasn't working as well as he had hoped.

Dosu watched as Zaku's opponent came rolling towards him. He was about to give his teammate some support when he realized that he couldn't move. He was only able to look down for a moment to see that his shadow was connected to another boy who was giving him a bored look.

"Hurry it up Ino! We don't have all day!"

"_Shintenshin no Jutsu_." Said Ino from the entry to the shelter

Suddenly Kin felt funny, and then blacked out. A few moments later she smirked before pulling out a kunai and placing it at her throat.

"Alright you two, I have control of this girl and if you don't want her to die then I suggest that you all leave until I can't feel your chakra signatures anymore!" said Kin/Ino.

This made Choji's attack stop as he released his jutsu only to fall to the ground groaning about being dizzy. For a moment nothing happened then, with a small smirk on his face, Zaku lifted his hand and blasted her into a nearby tree. After that he pointed his other hand towards Choji before blasting him as well.

"Don't you brats get it?" asked Zaku in an amused voice, "We don't care about this stupid exam, hell we don't even care for the safety of our comrades all that much. All we are here to accomplish is to kill Sasuke Uchiha."

"And it looks to me that your little attack plan didn't go too well," spoke Dosu as he watched Shikamaru's shadow crawl back towards him, "Along with your jutsu; seems that girl gets hurt even if she's not in her body. But I wonder… would killing Kin kill her? Only one way to find out!"

"Oh please," came a voice from the trees. They all looked up to see Neji and Tenten sitting above them looking impassively at the three Sound Ninja.

"Come on. You little leaf Nin keep popping up like Cockroaches and I'm getting sick of you!"

"Cockroaches are we? Well then, we will see about that now won't we?" Neji spoke as he activated his Byakugan. Just when he was about to jump down he felt something. Looking around with his Byakugan he found a mysterious purple chakra erupting from below him. He noticed that he wasn't the only one to notice it as everyone in the clearing eyes widened as they felt the tremendous and evil chakra.

Inside the small shelter, Naruto sat up with the curse marks appearing all over him. He gritted his teeth in pain as he felt strange chakra beginning to surround him. That was when he felt it, the power, the evil that resided in the chakra that surrounded him, and most importantly…the feeling of something terrible taking over him.

When everyone turned to see where the dark chakra was coming from they were all surprised to see Naruto standing without his cloak on with his bangs hanging over his face covering it. Just then he let out a small chuckle, then the chuckle got louder and louder until he was laughing hysterically. Only…it wasn't his laugh. Instead of sounding jolly and kind, it sounded more insane and frightening. Soon his laughter died and he looked up at the people in the clearing to show that his face was covered in black diamond shaped markings.

"Who the hell is this guy?" asked Zaku.

Naruto said nothing as he looked around the clearing before having his sights land on Sakura who was looking at him with a fearful look. Naruto's smile only widened as he looked at her wounds.

After an eerie silence Naruto finally spoke. "So the girl finally gets her hand dirty. Good girl, now it's my turn to play with the new kids."

This caused a certain Sound Nin to get agitated, while the others took a few steps back in fear.

'H-he survived the curse seal? How can that be, it's a one out of ten chance of survival!' thought Dosu franticly.

"Hey asshole!" yelled Zaku, "Answer me when I ask you something!"

Naruto then turned his attention on the Sound Nin, and as much as he wanted to deny it, that smile the boy was giving him was starting to freak him out.

"What are you going to do if I don't?"

Zaku snarled at him before pointing both air palms towards him as he charged as much chakra as he could muster into his air tubes.

"_Zankyokuuha_!" shouted the boy.

A second later a massive gust of air pressure was fired upon Naruto and the others. After the dust settled it showed that the area where Naruto was standing was totally wiped out.

"Heh, blew his ass away."

"Blew who away now?" whispered someone in his ear.

Zaku's eyes widened in shock as he stood rooted to the spot. He didn't dare move, even if he knew he was about to die he wouldn't move. After standing there for what felt like hours, he turned to see Naruto staring at him with a bored look in his eyes.

That however, changed once Naruto saw the fear that was visible on the Sound Nin's face. His bored expression quickly changed to a sadistic grin; one that promised pain.

"Time to have some fun," said Naruto before dropping Ino, Sakura and a still unconscious Sasuke onto the ground.

The moment he placed them down a fist collided with Zaku's face sending the Sound Nin across the clearing. He didn't get much of a chance to recover from the attack because the moment he went to get back to his feet he felt a hand grip the back of his head and slam him into the ground.

Groaning from the pain in his head and nose, he barely noticed that he was being picked up off the ground and lifted up by the collar of his shirt. He took this chance to look at Naruto only to see two piecing blue eyes stare straight into his own. That was when he felt another punch from the boy hit him hard in the gut causing the boy to choke up blood.

"Aw, did I hurt you?" cooed Naruto, when he received no answer he decided to continue, "Well then, I guess you can take a little more can't ya?"

Once that statement was over, Naruto slammed the boy into the ground before sending a barrage of punches to the boy's face. At this point, Zaku was in extreme pain. After several more seconds of this the punches stopped only for him to be lifted up tossed into the air.

By now, Zaku's vision was obscured as both of his eyes were swollen and he could feel blood flowing freely out of his mouth. As he felt himself falling closer towards the ground he clenched his eyes closed and waited for the collision to do its damage. What he felt was much worse, as Naruto kicked him hard in the shoulder as he fell causing a sickening snap to echo throughout the clearing, followed by Zaku's screams as he went skidding across the ground.

"YES!" yelled Naruto as he listened to the boy's screams, "It's like music to my ears! I want to hear more, SCREAM AGAIN!" After that, he charged forward and prepared to continue the boy's torture.

As he continued this the bystanders were watching in horror and disgust at the brutality with which Naruto was fighting his opponent. As the seconds ticked by Zaku's vision began to fade and his shrieks of pain were starting to die off. Naruto noticed this and stopped his onslaught on the poor Sound Nin before grabbing him by his collar and hoisting him over his head with a small frown on his face.

"Aw, no more screams? Oh well, I was getting bored with you anyway." After that statement he reared his fast back before extending his claws. Zaku barely registered this but he didn't care, all he wanted at this point was death so that the pain would finally end. Naruto smirked evilly as he prepared to slash his throat out when someone placed a strong and firm grip onto his wrist. He turned to see Sasuke holding his wrist tightly in his hand as black marks started to cover his face and purple chakra began to pour off the boy in massive waves.

Chilling blue eyes glared back at blazing red ones as Naruto went to jerk his arm free only to find that Sasuke's grip on him was still firm.

"Let go of me teme," said Naruto coldly, "You're ruining my fun."

Sasuke, however, didn't respond. Instead he let go of the blonde's wrist only to punch him hard in jaw sending Naruto skidding back a few inches.

"If anyone's going to kill this one, it's me," stated Sasuke calmly, despite the look of pure anger on his face.

Naruto stared at the raven haired youth with a skeptical look on his face before a sadistic grin appeared on his face once more.

"Fine, you can have him," stated the blonde with a shrug before charging towards the Uchiha, "After I have my fun with you!"

Naruto reared his fast back and was about to punch his rival only to have it blocked and receive a kick to his chin. After skidding back a few feet he quickly shook his head as he searched for his opponent. Finding nothing he went to look behind him only to feel a powerful punch to his gut which made him lean forward a bit as blood seeped out of his mouth.

Sasuke smirked evilly before back-handing the blonde away sending the boy flying across the clearing. Not wasting any time, Sasuke flashed through a few seals before inhaling a bit of air.

"_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" _

Naruto looked up in time to see five medium-sized fireballs heading towards him. His eyes widened slightly before a small smirk appeared on his face. Quickly getting to his feet he focused a small bit of youki around his body before spinning in place.

"_Kitsune-bi!"_

Most of the bystanders thought this was odd until they saw purple flames beginning to circle around him. In moment, Naruto's form was no longer visible due to the miniature tornado of purple fire surrounding him. It was apparent that Sasuke's attack failed since the moment the five fireballs collided with the tornado of fire they were absorbed by the purple flames. As the wall of fire died down everyone was surprised to see Naruto was gone. Sasuke narrowed his eyes as he searched the area for the blonde only to find nothing.

Just then he felt an object wrap around his ankle and throw him into a tree. Sasuke grunted in pain before glaring at the mildly burnt blonde, who was holding a glowing whip made of pure energy.

"Yes, Sasuke, you are definitely more fun than the other one," laughed the blonde as he glanced over at the Sound Nin whom was now lying unconscious on the ground. "Lets play some more! Come on Sasuke, let's keep fighting!"

With that he stopped the flow of Youki to the whip and charged the boy with his claws extended. He went to slash the Uchiha only miss and slash the trunk of the tree the raven haired boy was standing in front of. He turned around to see Sasuke aiming to punch him in the jaw which he ducked under before making a horizontal strike with his claws.

Sasuke barely managed to avoid the strike but didn't leave unscathed as he felt three slash marks appear on his left cheek. Cursing lightly, he jump back to avoid another swipe of the blonde's sharp claws. After he skidded to a stop he quickly drew a kunai out of his leg holster and tossed it at the blonde boy. He smirked when it made contact with the boy's forearm, only for his eyes to widen when he charged towards him without even registering the pain.

It was beginning to be a challenge for the raven haired boy as he dodged and ducked under the blonde's deadly swipes towards him. As this continued the purple chakra radiating from Sasuke began to fade and the curse marks began to start receding back to their original location. Naruto's, on the other hand, seemed to grow stronger as the purple chakra grew larger with each passing moment.

After dodging another swipe from the blonde Sasuke backed up a bit only to realize that he had his back to a tree trunk. Before he could think of a way to get out of the situation Naruto grabbed the boy by his throat and pinned him to the tree while smiling at him evilly.

"Well, looks like you're out of room," mocked the blonde, "I had fun playing with you, but I see that the weird power you had is now gone. So I guess its time to end this game."

Naruto then reared his fist back and extended his claws once more as he prepared to lunge his them into his victim's heart. Just when he was mere centimeters away from plunging his claws into his victim's chest he stopped. Before Sasuke could register what was happening he was let go and Naruto began thrashing around, while clutching his head in what appeared to be pain.

**Inside Naruto's Mind**

"What are you doing?" yelled Dark Naruto as he felt chains wrapping around him. "I'm about to kill the one who has wronged us!"

In the very same chamber Naruto stood staring impassively at the replica of himself.

"Nice excuse, but you're still going to be locked up," said the real Naruto calmly. "I will not have you kill any of my precious people no matter what you are."

"You fool! They are not your precious people; they are only trying to get close to you so they can kill you once your back is turned!"

"And let me guess, you're trying to help me by killing them off so that I don't get killed."

"Correct, and if you let me go I will help you destroy that village for what it has done to you."

At first glace, it looked like Naruto was about to agree since the chains on Dark Naruto began to loosen slightly. Just when the chains looked as though they were about to fall off, more chains emerged from the darkness of the chamber and wrapped themselves around the evil entity.

"Go fuck yourself you piece of shit," said Naruto with a small smirk on his face.

"NO! You little bastard! I swear that you will regret this decision one day and once you do I will not be there to help you!"

"Like I ever wanted your help in the first place jackass!"

"Damn you!" yelled Dark Naruto as the chains dragged him off into the darkness and out of the blonde's view.

**Outside Naruto's Mind**

As the thrashing began to stop the curse marks receded and the purple chakra pouring out of him slowly dispersed. When the evil chakra completely disappeared Naruto collapsed onto his knees and was panting and sweating heavily.

After catching his breath Naruto looked up to see Sasuke's eyes watching him fearfully. He gave his rival a small smile before attempting to climb to his feet. That was when he felt the kunai that was still embedded into his forearm. He winced at the pain before pulling it out as quickly as he could. The results made him grunt in pain as he climbed back to his feet.

"Here teme, this is yours," the blonde grunted, as he handed the kunai back to his teammate.

Sasuke, however, was rather hesitant on taking it back from the blonde. Even though his gut told him to not trust the blonde, his Sharingan told him that the dark chakra that was once surrounding him was now gone. So, with caution, Sasuke reached out and took back to the kunai from his teammate.

All other bystanders released the breath they had not realized they had been holding in. Neji, however, eyed both Naruto and Sasuke as the other team and Tenten went to help the two members of Team Seven.

'What was that?' pondered Neji. 'I've never seen Naruto use that power before. It couldn't be a bloodline since the Uchiha appears to have it as well. Could those strange markings have something to do with that power?'

While Neji was muddling over this, Dosu was collecting his two teammates. He gently picked up Zaku, who was sporting many broken bones and multiple bruises on his face. He then went to pick up Kin when he felt her punch him in the shin.

"The hell are you doing?" asked Dosu.

Kin blinked a few times before laughing sheepishly. "Sorry, not the person you're looking for." This caused both Dosu and everyone else who heard that comment sweatdrop as Ino released her jutsu and returned to her body.

After shaking off the foolish moment created by the girl, he gently picked her up as well before turning to face Naruto.

"Boy, you were not our target but you are a strong opponent," the bandaged Genin held out an earth scroll, "Please take this offering and let us go."

Naruto only raised an eyebrow at this while Sasuke clenched his fist in anger.

"This may seem convenient but there is something that we need to find out. But know that if we meet again in this exam then we will-"

"Don't worry about it," interrupted Naruto. "Find out what you need to. Just promise to stay away from everyone here, understood?"

Dosu looked back at Naruto with his only visible eye before nodding and dashing off.

Before Naruto could do anything, he felt someone embrace him in a soft hug. That was when he realized that it was Tenten, and she was…crying?

"Ten-chan?" asked a very confused Naruto.

The said girl didn't respond, instead she continued to cry on his shoulder while gripping his shirt tighter. Everyone watched this with a pang of sadness gripping their hearts as they knew why she was crying.

'Because of how wrong it was to see Naruto act that way,' thought Sakura as she gripped the hand of Sasuke, who surprisingly squeezed back in response to it.

Still very much confused with the situation, Naruto slowly rubbed the girl's back in a soothing manner while hugging her back. This only caused the girl to shed more tears which were now soaking the boy's shirt.

Ino watched this from her position behind Sasuke and Sakura. Usually she would have been yelling at Sakura for being close to her "Sasuke-kun," but at the moment she was too absorbed into the situation that was occurring to really say much.

Choji and Shikamaru were also looking at the boy, whom they considered a growing friend, with worry. The two had never really seen how he truly acts and to see him act so vicious scared both of them. The thing that really hit them though was the look of confusion on the boy's face at the crying girl in his arms. It made them realize how much Naruto missed out on while growing up without a family.

'I think this is one of the few hugs he's ever gotten,' Choji thought sadly. 'Makes me feel grateful to have a family and to know what that feels like.'

After a few another few sobs, Tenten finally started to calm down enough for her to speak. "N-Naruto-kun… please, promise me you won't be that way again."

In response to this, Naruto only pulled her into another hug while rubbing her back once more. Naruto noticed that most of the people that were gathered around him were now giving them some space to talk privately.

"Don't worry Ten-chan," said the boy reassuringly, "I promise to never be that way… ever again."

Tenten pulled back to face to look him in the eyes. She saw that he was telling the truth and that he meant what he said. Just when she was about to say something to him, she felt his lips capture hers in a gentle kiss. She was surprised at this action but soon relaxed and closed her eyes as she started to return the kiss.

After a few moments the two's lips departed Naruto gave her another hug while whispering in Tenten's ear. "Now please don't cry. I don't to see your face stained with tears."

Tenten could only smile sadly as she returned the hug while Naruto stared at his open palm. He noticed the blood of the Sound Nin his opposite had been fighting and scowled.

'I might not know what you are,' thought Naruto angrily as he clenched his fist, 'But I will never let you do this to me again. I swear I'll find a way to get rid of you so you can never hurt my loved ones anymore.'

With that, he extended a claw on one of his fingers and engraved the kanji for promise into the palm of his hand. As he did this he didn't even register the pain while suppressing the healing abilities that all demons have. This scar was one he planned to keep until the day he carried out his word.

* * *

_Baika no Jutsu - _Multi-Size Technique

_Bubun Baika no Jutsu - _Partial Multi-Size Technique

_Gogyou Fuuin -_ Five Elements Seal

_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu -_ Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique

_Kitsune-Bi -_ Fox Fire

_Konoha Senpuu - _Leaf Whirlwind

_Shintenshin no Jutsu -_ Mind Body Change Technique

_Zankyokuuha -_ Exstreme Decapitating Air Waves

Not much to say other than that this chapter was a bitch in an half to deal with. Anyway thanks for reading and don't forget to R&R or I'll tie you to a chair while I play GTA 4 in front of you while Gai and Lee take turns kicking you in the nuts.


	10. Chuunin Exam Preliminary Rounds

YO PEOPLE! Sorry for the long as hell wait but i'm back so know that hell has made its return! Now on to buisness.

Now, I want to make something very clear to most of you. When I write I don't just do shit like add curse seal because of one stupid reason or another. I added cuse seal to Naruto for a good list of reasons. The main reason i did it was becuase if Orochimaru was interested in Naruto that is what he most likely had done. I find Naruto with curse seal very possible. Think about it for a second. if Orochmaru had done that after he sealed away Kyuubi i really doubt he could do anything about it since hardly any of his chakra would usable.

Besides, Kyuubi in the cannon doesn't give a rats ass about Naruto, the only thing he would do is surpress the effects that causes Naruto to lose will. Over all, i find it very believable and even if Kyuubi tried to get rid of it doing so will most likely damage his chakra coals and the only reason Sasuke's is gone is because of Orochimaru's death. I've had these thoughts in my head for a while, and countless people have agreed that I made a valed point.

Also, no I didn't make Naruto as strong as some people claim I have. Notice that most of the fights i put Naruto in either end with him the winner, the loser, or as a stalemate. I've yet made him too powerful to the point he can take on Jounins by himself. And also, half of what Naruto has learned this far in the story has taken him at least two to three months and most of it is basic stuff to Taishou and Kyuubi. So I don't want to hear shit about giving Naruto too many changes since most other stories have Naruto learn so much shit in the span of one month.

I just want make sure you all know I don't just do shit without thought and to the one who stated these things in the reveiws sorry, and don't comply to this cause its over, no use dragging out any longer. Again sorry, but it pisses me off when people think I'm doing the same shit that everyone else does, cause I'm not. Also, to the same guy, don't ever compare me to other Fics, cause even if you say its ruined, doesn't make it a bad story and I will not have you or anyone badmouth other people's fics on my reviews. If you don't like what you read then quit reading it! Though I am happy that you are trying to look out for this fic, you don't need to worry since you have no idea what i'm planning to do soon and i can promise nobody will see it coming.

Well, now since that is done and over with time to begin the chapter! Lay it on 'em Lee!

Lee: HAI! Silverfang88 does not own Naruto or anyone/anything from Inuyasha! Now read onward in the flames of youth!

Me: (...) Just read.

"Speaking" Normal

Speaking'Thinking

_"Speaking' _Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon speaking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

**_"Speaking" _**Demon Naruto speaking

* * *

In center of a location in a place known as the Forest of Death, a long haired blond Genin awoke from his blissful slumber and began to stretch his arms as he yawned. After stretching a few more moments and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Naruto slowly got out of bed while trying to get rid of the grogginess that still had its grip on him.

It had been two days since he and his team had arrived to the tower in the forest and he wasn't sure if he should be happy or concerned. Why, you might ask? Simple, during the whole trip to the tower his two teammates where trying their best to avoid him. They tried not to seem obvious, but the fact that Naruto would insult Sasuke and Sakura wouldn't respond was clue enough. Still, they both pounded his head in when they arrived at the tower to find that they had two of one scroll.

He sighed as he walked to the bathroom to take his morning shower. As began to wash himself off and attempted to wake himself up, his mind began to drift back to the incident in the forest. He didn't remember much of that day, only bits and pieces of him fighting two different people and severely injuring a certain Sound Nin.

Yet he didn't tell anyone about the curse seal at all. Reason why was because even he knew that the council only tolerated him because of his loyalty. If they were to find out that he had something that was given to him by their worst enemy they wouldn't hesitate to kill him off immediately.

Sasuke also seemed to be hesitant to tell anyone about it either. Maybe it had something to do with the seal, or maybe it was just he didn't want to be kicked out of the Exams just because of the damn thing. But, it wasn't his business as he still had another problem in the seals department.

'I still have to get rid of that other damn thing the Hebi-teme put on my stomach,' thought the blond as he turned off the water and grabbed a nearby towel.

While it was true that he had been resting for the past two days, he had also been trying to come into contact with both of his tenants and had yet to hear from either of them. When he went to enter his mind, he would only get halfway towards the two huts before being thrown out.

Though he was eager to get the seal off his abdomen, he knew he had to wait since he had to go to the arena today. The proctor had stated that the next Exam would take place early in the morning and he really didn't want to piss off that woman again. With that in mind he quickly got dressed and headed out the room and headed strait to the arena.

After walking for a few moments down the now empty halls of the tower he caught a glimpse of a familiar blond woman from one of the other corridors. It was obvious that she noticed him as well because the woman snorted before continuing on her way.

"Hey, lady," greeted Naruto with a small frown on his face

"Hello, brat," replied the woman with the same frown.

She and her team had arrived about the second day almost at the same time team seven arrived. What irritated him was that she didn't look like she had a scratch on her while his team looked like they went to hell and back. It was at that point that Sasuke made an attempt to get her name, only to get be either ignored or be told to get lost like some little kid. Ever since then, Team Seven had been avoiding the bitch while Naruto took to calling her lady.

Finally, after several seconds of walking in silence, Naruto spoke, "Hey lady."

"What, brat?"

"Are you going to tell me your name today?"

The woman just snorted. "As I said before I have no need to give someone my name unless it is necessary."

"What if I said it was necessary now?"

"Don't waste your breath brat, you're not worth the time and neither is your Uchiha friend."

Naruto gritted his teeth in annoyance before huffing. 'Kami I hate this bitch!'

"Why do you even bother to ask me anyway? Got a crush on a foreign Shinobi or something?" She asked with a small feral smirk on her face.

"Sorry to disappoint you lady, but I'm already seeing someone."

"What's there to be disappointed about brat?" Asked the woman as her eye twitched.

"Plenty, but seeing as how you're being a bitch I won't elaborate." On the outside he was acting as calm as he could while on the inside, he was flipping the girl off with a grin on his face.

The girl slowly clenched her fist before growling out, "You had best hope I don't fight you in the next Exam or I'll be sending you back to your mother in pieces."

"I don't have a mom for you to send those pieces to," answered the boy quietly before picking up the pace in his walking.

After that all went silent as the two hastened their walk to the arena. Once they came to the giant double doors that lead to the arena, Naruto quickly opened them with little trouble before joining his team who had been waiting in a line along with the other teams.

"Sorry if I'm late," whispered the blond as he noticed that most of the Jounin and the Hokage was in front of them.

His team gave him no response and he sighed sadly. 'Seems that they are still avoiding me.'

But what Naruto didn't know was that they truly weren't. Or at least, they weren't trying to do it on purpose. What they were trying to do was find a way to talk to him about the attack and why he was acting the way he was. In fact, it was Sasuke who had been most worried about the blond.

Though he would never admit it, what had transpired in the forest had really spooked him. It wasn't everyday that someone like Naruto could just turn from a calm and rather stupid bumbler into a violent and bloodthirsty killer. But what had him freaked was the look in Naruto's eyes. It held no kindness, no playfulness, or anything that made the blond who he was. Only insanity and rage were present in those sapphire orbs.

However, during their time in the forest and in the tower, neither Sasuke nor Sakura felt comfortable enough to talk to him about it. It just didn't seem right to talk about it with all the Jounin and ANBU stationed around the tower. Still, the two members of Team Seven vowed to talk to him about it once the Exam was over.

After standing there for a few moments the teams were informed of why the Chuunin Exams were established and took the place of war to lower the deaths of good Shinobi. Most of the people in the crowd of Genin tuned this speech out before hearing someone tell the old man to get on with it.

Just when the Hokage was about to speak once more a woman with raven colored hair that reached down to the middle of her back and a standard Chuunin outfit dropped down in front of him.

"Hokage-sama, allow me to take it from here please," said the woman kindly.

This was when Naruto's ears perked up at the familiarity of the voice. The Hokage smiled and nodded as the woman stood and turned to face them and reveal a familiar woman to Team Seven.

"Haku-chan!" yelled a happy blond youth.

The said woman just smiled brightly before giving a small wave to him and Team Seven. Most of the other Genin just stared at her with faint blushes on there faces while even fewer were glaring at Naruto in envy.

"Hello and congratulations for making it this far into the Chuunin Exams. Unfortunately, due to the large number of participants in this Exam, we are going to be doing a preliminary round to see who gets to go to the finals."

"Huh?" asked Sakura aloud, "What do you mean?"

"It's simple, we have a lot of guests that will be coming to watch the Chuunin Exams. We do not want to waste their time so we need to reduce the number greatly so that only the best of the best will partake in the final event."

"So this is just to separate the weak from the strong?" asked one of the Cloud Kunoichi who was covered in a black cloak.

"Yes, technically speaking."

"Well then, let's get started," said Kiba brashly.

"Are you nuts?" Yelled Ino, "We just got here last night and you want to just start right now!"

"Well then you should have got here sooner like we did!" barked Kiba while Akamaru growled at the blond girl.

"I'm sorry miss," apologized Haku, "But he is right, we are going to be starting this test as of immediately. However, if you or anyone else thinks that they're not up to it you may forfeit now and can go home."

She looked around the room and noticed that nobody had said anything. Meanwhile Kabuto glanced at his 'sensei' before noticing that he wanted him to stay. He didn't know why Orochimaru was doing this but guessed that it was all a part of his plan.

'Still,' thought the spy, 'I guess it won't be so bad, after all I can hold down the boiling blood for a while longer this way.'

That was when Naruto felt the curse seal pulse and the voice could be heard whispering in his mind once more. Naruto clutched his head as he felt the curse seal continue to pulse. This however, wasn't the first time this had happened. Most of the two days he had spent in this tower had been shutting up the voice in his head. And, like always, nothing worked except ignoring it to the best of his abilities.

After a minute or two he could hear the voice's whispers die down 'til he couldn't hear him anymore. He sighed and wiped the sweat off his forehead which drew a few stares his way but he ignored them. Now wasn't the time to worry about the damn voice, he had an Exam to finish.

"Stay out of my business Sakura and keep quiet about the seal," ordered Sasuke,

"Huh?"

Naruto turned around to see Sasuke giving Sakura an even stare while the said girl looked like she was about to burst into tears.

"I'm doing this test to see if I really am strong. There are so many strong opponents here that I want to fight to test myself. So if you ruin this for me then I will never…ever forgive you for it."

"Hey, what are you two-" before he could even finish his sentence he saw Sasuke smirk at him.

"You are one of those opponents I want to fight, Naruto."

That was when Naruto stopped thinking about anything. He didn't know what to think. Was he supposed to be happy that his rival finally sees him as a worthy opponent? Or should he upset that he is only being used to gauge his strength. Either way, Naruto was surprised, almost so surprised that he missed Haku's announcement. Almost.

"Now that we have everything situated let's begin the preliminaries for the Third Exam. These matches will be one-on-one battles which you will be fighting as though you were in a real life confrontations. Now since we have twenty-four participants we are going to be doing twelve matches and the winners will advance to the finals."

"There will be no rules and you must fight until either your opponent dies, is unconscious, or forfeits. However, if I say the match is over, do not continue otherwise I will intervene and you will be joining your opponent in the hospital, understood?"

Most nodded while others just rolled their eyes at her threat. After her statement was acknowledged she turned to Anko who nodded and opened a small panel next to the statue of a giant pair of hands performing a seal to show an electric score board.

"This score board will randomly select two names. Once your name is selected on the board, please enter the arena while the others go up to the upper levels."

The moment she finished the board came alive and began to cycle through the contestants before finally landing two names.

Akimichi Choji vs. Tsurugi Misumi

Choji gulped loudly while Misumi just smirked under the veil that hid the lower part of his face. The rest of the Genin gave the two a glance before going up to the catwalks while the other two members of Team Ten gave the tubby boy a small reassuring smile.

Once everyone was off the arena floor Haku stepped in the middle of the two boys before announcing the first match.

"The first match of the preliminary rounds between Akimichi Choji and Tsurugi Misumi will begin… now!" shouted the woman before dashing back a bit.

The moment she finished, Misumi rushed forward and reared his right fist back before launching a punch that was aimed at the tubby boy's face. The said boy ducked under the attack and did a small roll to the side to avoid a kick that would have sent him flying. After getting a little distance he formed three seals before rearing his own fist back.

"_Bubun Baika no Jutsu!_" yelled the boy before launching it at his opponent.

Choji gritted his teeth when he saw his opponent parry his attack and come rushing towards him. The man reared his fist back again only this time, when he launched it, his whole arm stretched a full eight feet and hit him square in his left cheek.

Choji quickly returned to his feet and since his jutsu was canceled his arm was now back to normal.

"H-how did you-"

The man only chuckled before answering. "I have the ability to manipulate my body. I can pop my bones out of their sockets and use my chakra to move my soft muscle tissue. Basically I can stretch myself from as far as I wish so long as it's not too far. But since we are in this arena I have perfect range to hit you with it."

With that said he cocked his fist back once more and sent it straight at the boy again. This time however, Choji was ready and dodged the punch before grabbing his arm and, with little effort, swung him towards the wall where he collided with brutal force.

The said man groaned as he climbed to his feet only to look up and see the big boned Genin's gigantic fist come crashing down towards him. Cursing lightly, he quickly rolled to the side before rushing forward.

Choji quickly canceled his jutsu again before jumping back to avoid a kick that was aimed at his ribs. After that he channeled chakra into his leg and it grew just as big as his arm previously was and sent his own kick that slammed into the mans chest which sent him flying across the ring.

Choji panted a bit while canceling the jutsu again as he felt his chakra starting to get low. He knew he had enough for a few more attacks so he rushed forward and prepared to launch another gigantic punch towards his opponent when he saw a fist come rocketing towards his face. Choji could do nothing as the punch came closer and closer until he was sent off his feet do to the attack. Just when he was about to go skidding along the ground, he felt another hand grasp his ankle before being tossed into the wall.

Once Misumi's arm retracted he took his opportunity to rush forward while the boy groaned as he attempted to get to his feet. As the boy staggered Misumi sent another punch to the boy's face before using his other arm to wrap around the boy's neck.

"Move anymore and I'll snap your neck," threatened Misumi while applying pressure to emphasize his point.

Choji stayed still for a moment before smirking to himself. "Good luck doing that after this!" the boy grunted before slamming his hands together into a seal.

"_Baika no Jutsu!_"

Instantly the boy's stomach grew to where he looked like a giant ball. This made Misumi raise an eyebrow since he still had a hold the boy. Just when he was about to put pressure on the boy's neck he felt the boy's head slip out of his hold and before he knew what was happening the Choji quickly rolled forward.

The bystanders all winced when they heard the sound of crushing bones. When Choji stopped spinning he turned and saw Misumi's limp form behind him. Haku walked over and checked his pulse and shook her head. The boy had been crushed and she knew that nothing could have changed that.

"Winner, Akimichi Choji!"

"HELL YEAH CHOJI!" yelled Ino as she cheered for the boy who was looking slightly green at his first kill.

"Good job Choji," congratulated Asuma with a big grin on his face. 'Though I don't like the fact that he had to kill to win but still he had little choice in that matter.'

After removing the corpse from the ring, and the young Akimichi victor, the score board came to life once more before stopping on the next two names.

Sabaku no Temari vs. Tsuchi Kin

Kin only raised an eyebrow before walking down the stairs while Temari did the same. Once both participates got the battle floor, Haku called the fight and both jumped back to get some space.

Temari stood confidently while Kin looked rather concerned. She didn't really know what this one could do and she doubted she should take her lightly. Just as Kin was about to take out her senbon Temari sighed.

"I really don't feel like playing with you so I'm going to end this now," stated the girl calmly.

Before Kin could even say a word in response Temari snapped open her fan before calling out, "_Kamaitachi_!"

With her jutsu called, she swung her giant fan and instantly a small tornado was shot out towards the now frightened Sound Nin before she was hurled into the air and received multiple cuts from the fierce winds. Kin screamed in pain as the winds continued to cut across her flesh and some of her clothing. As the winds began to die down she felt herself start to descend towards the arena floor.

Just as she thought her pain couldn't get any worse it did. Temari, while the girl was still getting up in the tornado, positioned her now closed fan underneath of where the girl would be landing causing the Sound Nin to land on her spinal cord on the metal butt of Temari's fan.

The poor girl couldn't even scream anymore as her eyes rolled into the back of her head until she passed out. Most who were watching this thought that it was unnecessarily cruel to do.

"Remind me not to piss her off," mumbled Kiba.

"Winner, Sabaku no Temari!"

As Temari prepared to throw the girl off her fan a look towards the proctor told her otherwise. She could see the icy glare the Chuunin was giving her that told her to watch it. Though Temari could care less, she didn't feel like dealing with the Chuunin at the moment so, begrudgingly, she waited for the medics to take her off her fan and off to the medical ward.

'Why bother, she isn't going to be walking after what I did to her.' Thought Temari dryly before walking up the stairs to rejoin her team. As she walked up, for some reason, she looked around until she spotted a familiar whiskered face. The said boy was giving her a look of disgust and for some reason; she couldn't help but feel angered.

'What is he looking at me like that for?' thought Temari bitterly, 'All I did was end it quickly, I didn't kill the bitch like the fat kid did and I get a look of disgust! What's that about?'

Unconsciously she clinched her fists in outrage and once she reached her team she didn't even bother to register the strange look she received from her brother Kankuro. Just when he was about to ask her what was wrong, the board lit up and showed the next two combatants.

Akadou Yoroi vs. Hyuuga Neji

Yoroi frowned under his veil while Neji stayed emotionless. As the two walked down to the arena Naruto gave a Neji a quiet good luck in which he nodded before continuing on.

"Hyuuga Neji vs. Akadou Yoroi… begin!"

Neji only sighed before calmly entering his Jyuuken stance while Yoroi flashed through a few seals. After he finished his set of seals his hand began to glow blue as the chakra flowed through it. Once done, the man charged the Hyuuga prodigy with his one glowing palm reared back. Neji just waited patently until the man was into striking range before activating his Byakugan and ducking under the man's attack while pressing down on the tenketsu points in his arms.

Yoroi cursed when he felt the chakra leave his hand before jumping back to avoid a Jyuuken palm to the abdomen. Once he gained some distance he quickly pulled out three kunai and tossed them at the young Hyuuga while his back was turned. The boy didn't move as the deadly weapons came closer towards him, but instead pulled out a kunai of his own and deflected all three before tossing it at high speeds towards his opponent.

The man quickly rolled to the side to avoid it only to feel a great amount of pain hit him in the shoulder, courtesy of Neji, who was now moving to attack once more. Before the boy could attack however, the man lunged his glowing hand forward and went to make grab at his forehead only to be denied as Neji shifted his head to left, just barely missing the attack but close enough to feel his chakra being drained.

'So that's what he's trying to do,' thought Neji with a smirk, 'Clever, but you can't expect to catch me with that speed.'

With this thought in mind, he waited for the man to try once more. Neji's smirk widened somewhat as Yoroi didn't disappoint him, as the man lunged towards him again. Just when Yoroi thought he had him, Neji quickly grasped his wrist before pressing down on three tenketsu in the man's other arm. He watched in satisfaction as chakra stopped flowing into Yoroi's hand. Before his opponent could even think of retaliating Neji dealt a palm to the man's abdomen causing him to cough up blood. The last thing Yoroi saw before he went into unconscious was the sight of Neji's cold, white, pupil-less eyes boring holes into his skull.

"Winner, Hyuuga Neji!" announced Haku before calling over the medics

Neji only scoffed before walking towards the upper levels. As he walked up the stairs he felt as though someone was watching him but shrugged it off without any second thought.

"Huh, he was holding back the whole time, too," said Kankuro before taking a glance at his other two siblings. Gaara was looking at the boy in interest (as he'd expected). While Temari, on the other hand… still looked pissed?

"Hey sis?" said the boy in confusion, "What's up with you?"

The girl didn't respond for a moment as she clenched her fists a bit tighter to the point that her knuckles were white. She then glanced at him and Kankuro could see that, whatever happened, she was really, _really, _pissed off about it.

"Nothing," growled out Temari in a venomous tone.

With that said Kankuro wisely chose to stay quiet about it and not ask any further questions. He glanced at the board to see that the next two contenders were already selected.

Tenten vs. Retsu Metaru

Tenten couldn't help but grin at finally getting her shot. In her eagerness she simply leaped over the railing before landing on the arena floor.

"Good luck Ten-chan!" yelled out Naruto while not noticing the look Sakura was giving him.

'Thanks Naruto,' thought Tenten with a smile before turning her attention to her opponent.

The boy looked about a few years older than she did. He looked about five foot two and had seemed to be well fit. He had dark brown hair with matching brown colored eyes. He was currently wearing a black short sleeved shirt with his left arm hidden in a long loose sleeve that was stitched to the shirt. The man also wore black Shinobi pants with matching Ninja sandals. But what really caught Tenten's attention was the Wakizashi that was strapped to the man's back.

"Tenten vs. Retsu Metaru… begin!"

Tenten leapt back as Haku announced the fight's beginning. When she felt she had some good distance she noticed that the Metaru had yet to move. She raised an eyebrow at this before pulling out two shuriken and tossed them at her opponent. The Genin remained still until the last moment before unsheathing his Wakizashi quicker than most could see and deflecting them before returning the sword to its sheath.

'Ok, this ain't good,' thought Tenten as she pulled out more shuriken and kunai from her pouch. As she went to toss them she saw him unsheathe his sword again before he rushed her while deflecting the projectiles as he went.

Once he got into striking distance, he went to slash Tenten in half only for her to duck and attempt to sweep his feet out from under him. He jumped over it and thrust his blade towards her in an attempt to stab her. He was happy to note that he succeeded only to be disgruntled when she puffed into smoke to reveal a block of concrete. He glanced over his shoulder to see Tenten a few feet away from him on one knee with two scrolls on each side of her while performing a few seals.

"_Soushouryuu_!" Shouted the girl before a giant plum of smoke obscured Metaru's view.

Suddenly, the forms of two dragons swirling around each other appeared out of the smoke before dispersing showing two sets of scrolls being unraveled. Throughout the whole sight, Metaru still didn't move. Even when he saw Tenten jump in the middle of the scrolls he stood still. He just patently waited for the attack to commence knowing that whatever was going to happen, he was prepared.

Up in the air, Tenten grasped the projectiles coming forth from the two scrolls before tossing that at her opponent with pin-point accuracy. However, no matter how many weapons she threw at him, he would deflect them, or dodge with relative ease. Soon, all her weapons lay on the arena floor while Metaru stood in the middle, while staring up at her with a bored expression on his face. Tenten gritted her teeth in frustration as she went to retrieve her weapons with the wire attached to them when she realized that the wires had been cut.

'He wasn't just deflecting my weapons!' thought Tenten franticly, 'He was cutting the wire off as well.'

Metaru smirked as he saw her look of panic before leaping towards the girl who was still relatively high in the air. As he went to unsheathe his sword he saw Tenten's eyes widen slightly as she went to pull out some sort of weapon only to find nothing but another scroll.

Naruto watched in horror as Metaru went to slash his friend's arm off, only to sweat drop when he was hit by the butt end of a scroll.

'Leave it to Tenten to find other uses for a storage scroll,' thought the boy dryly while others proceeded to sweat drop as well.

'Can't believe that worked,' thought Tenten sheepishly as she landed on the arena floor.

Tenten watched as Metaru flipped mid-air before landing on his feet. He glared at her while sheathing his sword. She suppressed a giggle when she saw the red mark left from the butt of the scroll which had hit him directly in the forehead.

"You can't win now," he said calmly while rubbing his forehead. "You used every throwing weapon in your arsenal, if that scroll had anything to say about it."

"Well I'm willing to prove you wrong on that one friend." Shot back the girl

With that she quickly pulled out her last scroll in her pouch and unraveled it while adding chakra to activate the seal that contained her weapon. With a small puff, a Katana with a red sheath with a matching red hilt appeared from the scroll. She quickly grasped it before unsheathing her blade all the while glaring at the boy in front of her.

Metaru only raised an eyebrow at her actions before dismissing it as he prepared to attack again. He was pretty surprised when she stuck her sword's blade into the ground before kneeling down and lifting her pants leg up a bit to show a pair of small ankle weights.

"A few pounds won't make a difference," said Metaru smugly.

Tenten didn't reply instead, she just casually took off the two ankle weights until she was holding them in the palm of each hand. She then smiled sweetly before tossing them over her shoulders towards the wall. The moment the weights connected with the wall, it shook as the two objects embedded themselves into it while creating small cracks that stretched out about a few centimeters away from each hole.

"A few pounds won't make a difference huh?" asked Tenten while still smiling sweetly before it was replaced with a scowl. "You shouldn't have underestimated me, now you're going to regret it."

The moment those words left her lips she grabbed the hilt of her sword and rushed forward at an alarming rate. Metaru, who had not been expecting this, barely managed to unsheathe his sword to block the attack only to have powerful kick connect with his ribs. Before Metaru could gather his bearings, he had to duck under another swing from Tenten's blade which cut a few strands of his hair.

Getting annoyed he quickly made a diagonal slash only for it to be blocked by the brunette. The two struggled for a bit before Metaru put as much strength into pushing the girl off his sword and thrusting his own blade towards her neck. Tenten quickly jumped back to avoid it while sporting a shallow cut on the side of her neck before turning to block a vertical strike that aimed to cut her in half.

After another struggle of power, Tenten finally managed to push the boy's sword off her before making her own vertical strike which managed to cut the Genin across the chest which penetrated the skin. He groaned in pain as he felt the blood start oozing out of the wound before having to dodge another sword swipe from the weapons mistress.

As Metaru went to make another horizontal strike, Tenten ducked under the attack and as the blade went over her head, she quickly grabbed his wrist and, with the Genin's own momentum, pulled him over her causing him to be slammed onto his back and his weapon to leave his hand and go skidding across the ground.

Tenten smirked as the boy now lay on the ground before grabbing one of her nearby kunai and placing it at the boy's neck.

"I win," whispered Tenten before looking at Haku.

"Winner, Tenten!"

"Hell yeah! Good job Ten-chan!" cheered Naruto from above.

The said girl smiled up at him before looking down at the now furious looking Genin. She then pulled the kunai away from his neck before placing it back into her pouch and walking over to where her sheath lay.

"That bitch," muttered Metaru furiously, "I won't be humiliated this way!"

When Tenten turned to face him, he was already five feet away from her with him clutching his left wrist. Before he reached her she saw a small glimmer of silver before realizing that inside the loose sleeve, a small extendable blade was what lay hidden the whole time. Unfortunately, she realized this a bit too late as Metaru stabbed the blade into her abdomen causing multiple gasps to escape from the bystanders. The ones to be most shocked by this were Metaru's own teammates and Naruto.

Tenten slowly looked down at the wound as the blade retracted into his sleeve while he himself had a menacing smile gracing his features. Soon she felt her vision begin to fade and the whole time, all she could hear was Naruto calling out her name.

"Hah! That's what you get for humiliating me you little-" Metaru would have continued this rant had it not been for the fact that he felt a freezing cold substance beginning to cover his entire body. He shakily turned his head to see a very angry looking Haku who had her hand on his shoulder while ice continued to creep over his body until he was completely covered in a thick layer of it.

Haku calmly removed her hand from the boy's shoulder as the look of pure fright was etched onto his face before turning to face the remaining Genin on the upper levels.

"Does anyone else what to disobey the rules?" she asked in a bone chilling voice. Everyone (With the exception of Gaara and Naruto) shook their heads while sweating heavily.

Once she saw this she turned her attention to Tenten who was being checked on by the medical squad. Naruto had yet to leave her side and looked as though he was about to cry. Haku had to keep herself from hugging the poor boy as she watched him run off with the medics to the medical station they had in the next room. She looked up at the board to see the next two names appear.

Yamanaka Ino vs. Haruno Sakura

**With Naruto**

Naruto watched as Tenten slept with all sorts of medical equipment attached to her. The doctor had just finished operating on her and was slightly relieved after hearing her condition. They said that after a little rest and a while of no physical activities, she would be ok in a few days and that no major artery or organ had been hit. However, it did little to stop his worrying over her slightly pale and anemic form.

After the doctor's finished their work, they told him he could stay for only five or six minutes since he still had a match to do. But at the moment he really didn't care. He wanted to stay with her and that is why he had yet to move from her side while gently holding her hand.

"I'm sorry Ten-chan," said the boy softly as he gently brushed away a stand of hair from the girl's face. "If I had just paid more attention I could have warned you. I could have stopped him, or something."

At that moment he felt a lone tear go down his cheek for the first time since he was six. That was when he felt someone place their hand on his shoulder and turned to see Kakashi standing beside him with a sad look in his eye.

"Hello sensei," muttered Naruto before turning his attention back to Tenten. "Where are Gai and the others?"

"They said they wanted you to be alone with her and that they would visit her in the hospital after the Exam was over," answered Kakashi softly. "It's ok Naruto… it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it is!" cried Naruto as more tears started to appear. "I could have stopped him! I could have warned her or Haku-chan about him! I could have done something damn it!"

Kakashi could only watch as his student began to openly sob while clenching his fists to the point that he broke the skin. The Jounin only sighed sadly before grabbing both the boy's shoulders before forcing Naruto to look him in the eye.

"Naruto, there is nothing you could have done to stop this from happening. It's something we cannot change and you must know that none of this is your fault. So don't blame yourself for this, so long as she's alive that's all that matters."

He watched as Naruto's sobs began to die down a bit before he let go of his shoulders. The boy just hung his head down as he started wiping the tears away as he sniffed a few times in an attempt to calm himself down. Finally when he looked up he gave his sensei a small smile of thanks which Kakashi returned with his trademark eye-smile before extending his hand to help the boy up.

Naruto gratefully took hold of it as his sensei hoisted him up off the ground before looking at him in the eyes once more. "Tell anyone that I cried in here and I'll burn your book and the bookstore."

Kakashi couldn't help but laugh at that before guiding the blond back to the arena where the fight between Shino and Kankuro had just now finished. Turned out the fight between Ino and Sakura was a draw as the two managed to knock each other out with one punch causing it to be a double knockout. The fight between Kankuro and Shino had officially ended. Kankuro was paralyzed by one of Shino's special insects while Shino was poisoned by Kankuro's puppet Karasu. Now everyone was waiting as the score board came to life once more to reveal the next two contestants for the upcoming round.

Nara Shikamaru vs. Yakushi Kabuto

"Oh, crap," groaned Shikamaru as he eyed the silver haired Genin.

"Don't worry about it, at least it's not Sasuke you're fighting or someone else," said Choji reassuringly while eating a bag of chips.

"Thanks a lot for that, Choji," muttered Shikamaru before adding, "Troublesome."

Kabuto took a glance towards the Sound trio's sensei to see only to see him nod. Wordlessly Kabuto jumped over the railing before walking into the center of the arena while Shikamaru took his time going down the stairs. Once he was in front of him, the proctor began the match and both fighters jumped back.

As he leapt back, Shikamaru began to perform a few seals before stopping on the Rat seal. Instantly, his shadow extended as it gave chase towards the silver haired youth. The said man jumped away from the shadow as it crawled along the ground. As he continued to maneuver around the tricky shadow Shikamaru pulled out two kunai before tossing them at Kabuto hoping to lure him into his trap.

However, Kabuto was no fool. He saw the wire that Shikamaru had added to the two kunai and cut them off as soon as he saw them. Though, how he attached the wire without him noticing was something he didn't know. Just then he noticed that the boy's shadow was lurking towards him once more and forced him to maneuver around the damn thing once more.

Shikamaru only smirked before canceling his jutsu and going into his equipment pouch and pulled out two round objects. Kabuto raised an eyebrow before his eyes widened in realization. Shikamaru only smirked before tossing both of the balls into the air towards Kabuto before the two exploded to cause a blinding light to engulf the whole room.

When the room darkened once more, and everyone could see clearly again, they found that Shikamaru had stayed at the same spot only his shadow was now connected with Kabuto's.

"_Kage Mane no Jutsu_ was a success," said Shikamaru with a smirk.

Kabuto only raised his eyebrows once more before asking, "Tell me, what does this do to help you beat me?"

Shikamaru only turned his head to the left and Kabuto did the same. When he looked, he saw a kunai embedded into the ground about twenty seven inches beside his foot with an explosive tag attached to it. Shikamaru then turned his head to the right and it showed another kunai with an explosive tag on it about sixteen inches from his right foot.

"After I threw the flash bombs I tossed those to each side of you. Now all I have left to do is set do a simple seal and those two explosive tags will go off immediately."

Kabuto could only sigh as he accepted his loss. He was supposed to be a spy and that meant that you had to do things you didn't like to do. Sure he could beat the kid but in order to keep himself out of suspicion he had to play along. So, with another sigh he spoke, "You win."

"Winner, Nara Shikamaru!"

The boy only sighed again before canceling his jutsu. As his shadow retracted back to him he couldn't help but notice a small glimmer in Kabuto's eyes. This usually wouldn't bother him, but the fact that he had won so easily and that Kabuto didn't even try to attack him made him wonder. Whatever he saw, it wasn't his problem anymore. He took a quick glance at the board again to see who was fighting who next.

Uchiha Sasuke vs. Hyuuga Hinata

Sasuke blinked a few times as he looked over to see Hinata looking a little nervous. Why was he fighting her? He never really fought against a girl before. He excluded Haku since, at the time, he didn't know it was a girl.

'Regardless, I'll just have to be cautious. I really don't know what she can do since the last time I saw her fight.'

Just when Sasuke was about to head down to the arena floor he felt a hand grasp his shoulder and turned to see his sensei with a look of seriousness in his eye.

"Don't use the Sharingan," stated the man. "And if I see the seal begin to activate then I will intervene and stop the match."

Sasuke only stared back at his sensei before nodding and jumping down to the arena floor where Hinata was waiting, albeit nervously. As Haku announced the beginning of the match Hinata's Byakugan activated before she went into her Jyuuken stance.

Sasuke prepared to attack her only to wince in pain due to the seal. When Hinata saw this she took the opportunity to strike at her opponent with a palm to the boy's chest. Sasuke saw this and managed to maneuver around it before kneeing the girl in the ribs causing her to stagger back a bit before going back into her stance.

Sasuke charged towards her with as much speed as he could muster and sent a punch to the girls face only for her to dodge and deliver a Jyuuken palm to the boy's right arm. She was happy to note that her attack was successful since his arm now fell limply to his side with him gripping it in pain. She went to charge him once more and was surprised when somersaulted over her before kicking her hard in the back of the head which caused her to fall face first onto the concrete floor.

Sasuke panted as he tried to regain feeling in his right arm. He didn't expect for her to actually hit him since, last time he remembered, he was faster than she was.

'I guess when Kiba said she improved he wasn't kidding,' thought Sasuke bitterly as he watched the girl climb back to her feet.

Once Hinata got off the floor she quickly whirled around and charged the Uchiha with one of her palms reared back before launching it at the boy. The boy just dodged it and kept on dodging as the girl sent more and more deadly palm strikes towards him. He had to stop this but the damn seal on his neck was not helping as he felt more pain start coming from it.

As he continued to dodge he started to regain feeling in his arm as the numbness started to fade. He smirked as she went to strike him in the chest once more before ducking under it and upper cutting the girl until she was, literally, knocked off her feet.

The moment he saw her in the air Sasuke flashed through seals while doing his best to suppress the seal that was now pulsing. Just when he finished his seals he saw Hinata beginning to stand once more. So, with the last seal completed, Sasuke inhaled deeply before proceeding to use his jutsu.

"_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" _

The crowd could only watch as a giant fireball was sent soaring towards the young Hyuuga heir. As the dangerous flaming ball continued to advance upon the girl, she remained still. People began to panic and Haku began preparing to save the girl when they saw the look in the young girl's eyes.

The eyes that showed no fear, no worries about what was about to happen, and as the deadly fireball came closer she acted. As the fire approached she quickly released as much chakra as she could through her tenketsu points before beginning to spin.

"_Kaiten!"_

In an instant a dome of pure, whirling chakra formed around the young Hyuuga. Once the flames connected with the dome, the fire stopped its advancement for a moment before shooting off towards the left and right side of the dome. After a few seconds of this however, the flames began to die down and Hinata spin began to come to a stop. Once her technique was finished she looked up at her opponent while panting heavily.

Sasuke wasn't faring much better as the seal on his neck was now throbbing in pain and he knew that if this fight went on any longer, the seal would activate and he would be disqualified. However, he also knew that she wasn't going to last much longer and the fact that her Byakuugan was now de-activated and was now boring holes into his skull with those pearl colored eyes that had been raging with determination since the beginning.

And as Sasuke prepared to rush towards the girl all she did was give him a small smile before closing her eyes and collapsing onto the arena floor letting unconsciousness take her.

Haku stood in silence for a few moments before announcing Sasuke the winner.

Naruto smirked at what had transpired while Kiba, Shino and Kurenai all smiled proudly at their student/teammate. Though she had lost, she had indeed showed everyone that she had improved from how she used to be. With this in mind he turned back to the arena to find Sasuke helping the medics load her onto the stretcher.

'Well that's a surprise,' thought Naruto dryly. That was when he saw his sensei appear behind Sasuke and whisper something to him before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Naruto sighed as he glanced back up at the board to see that it had yet to land on the next two names.

'Guess because were running low on people.' Thought the blonde as the names finally appeared.

Sabaku no Gaara vs. Kinuta Dosu

Gaara only glanced at the board before he formed a seal and used Suna Shunshin to teleport down to the center of the arena.

"Get down here," said the boy coldly as he stared at the Sound Nin. The said Ninja just scoffed before jumping down calmly. Once he reached the middle Haku began the match and Dosu struck. As quickly as he possibly could, he rushed forward with his gauntlet clad arm cocked back. His assault was stopped before it could even begin as Sand started to pour out of Gaara's gourd and was shot out at him in a giant burst.

Dosu was forcefully knocked off his feet as the torrent of sand sent him flying into the wall with more sand rushing at him. As quickly as he could, he rolled to the side only to be blasted with another jet of sand sending him skipping across the floor like a rock on a smooth lake. He groaned as he attempted to get to his feet but leaped once he saw a giant fist of sand come crashing down from above him.

Gaara watched from the same position as he had started from and was not impressed with the Sound Nin. He was expecting more from this one since mother had stated he was one of the stronger ones. Though, he supposed that she was just thirsty for more blood but he dared not question his mother otherwise he might be in a worse situation than others thought.

Dosu panted as he watched the sand go slithering back to its master, whom had yet to move the entire time since this match started. This didn't settle well with him and he knew that if he got at least one hit in he could kill the brat. That being said, he slowly got to his feet, mindful of where Gaara's sand was, and charged while pulling out a kunai with an explosive tag attached to it before tossing it at the boy.

Even as the kunai came closer towards him, Gaara had yet to move until it was only a few inches from his face when sand suddenly shot upwards and 'caught' the projectile before sand began to form an orb around the weapon until it was no longer visible. A few seconds later, the sand seemed to have flinched before it fell harmlessly to the ground while the kunai looked black with the handle missing.

'Shit!' thought Dosu franticly as he reared his arm once more only to feel something grab him by his feet. Looking down he saw that both his legs were covered in sand and the next thing he knew, his whole body was covered in it.

"_Sabaku Kyuu_," announced Gaara calmly.

Slowly Gaara raised his hand until it was just over his head with his palm opened. As he did this the sand around Dosu began to ascend into the air carrying him with it. He struggled as best he could to get the sand off and, sadly, nothing worked. He stared back at Gaara with a frightened look on his face as he felt the sand getting tighter as Gaara's hand started to close.

"_Sabaku Sousou,_" said Gaara as he closed his hand into a fist.

The moment he did, the sand around Dosu tightened until the pressure was too much for him. Dosu didn't even get a chance to scream as the sand crushed his body and spilling his blood all over the arena, some of it hitting the people on the upper level.

Haku sighed as she surveyed the area to find that most were looking at the boy in disgust, fear, or just plain emotionless from the aftermath of his actions. She knew she couldn't stop him, even if she had known she could, she doubted she would have survived his wrath. She had seen the report on this one and knew that if she even tried to intervene then she would most likely end up the same way as Dosu.

"Winner, Sabaku no Gaara!"

The boy only waited for his sand to return to his gourd before Suna Shunshining back to where his siblings were waiting for him.

As the medics came out to retrieve the body, some couldn't help but feel pity for the Sound Nin while others were shivering in fear at the red haired boy.

Naruto stared at the board in irritation as he hadn't been called to fight yet. After watching all the fights transpire he was getting anxious and it was beginning to show he was now fidgeting constantly. Although he was rather disgusted with what had previously transpired, he told himself not to be distracted and to be ready for the next fight. When the next two names appeared on the board he almost yelled in excitement.

Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba

"Yes! This ones going to be easy aint it Akamaru?" said the obnoxious boy with his dog barking in agreement.

Naruto could only grin as he glanced over towards Sakura who gave him a pat on the shoulder for good luck. Just when he was about to jump down to the lower level a puff of smoke alerted him to his sensei's return. The said man gave him a glance before looking up at the board.

"Huh, for once I have good timing," muttered the Jounin before giving him the same look he gave Sasuke. "Naruto, be careful of what you do. I don't know what will trigger the seal for you but just be mindful of what you do from this point on Ok?

Naruto only grinned before striking the good guy pose, which made two people cheer and everyone else groan. "Got it sensei."

With that said he hopped down to the arena floor to meet his opponent. He had to say that he was looking forward to this fight since he could finally shut the boy up once and for all.

"Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba… begin!" announced Haku before jumping away. Immediately Kiba flashed through seals before crouching on all fours.

"_Shikyaku no Jutsu!_" shouted the boy before charging him at great speed. Naruto could only stand there as he was elbowed in the chest by Kiba which sent him flying into the wall causing a cloud of dust and rubble to kick up from the collision.

"Heh, this match is over," said the boy smugly. "He won't be getting up for a little while proctor."

Temari watched this with a scowl on her face. He didn't look that weak when they first met, but, she guessed that appearances don't always measure up to their expectations even if they got lucky enough to almost kill her brother.

"Hah! I knew that kid wasn't that strong!" yelled out Kankuro with a smirk on his face.

Just then a rock from inside the dust came flying out and hit him square in the nose causing him to fall onto his back while gripping it in pain.

"I heard that you know you stupid prick!" yelled Naruto while disregarding the look on Kiba's face.

Kiba stared at Naruto with a look of amazement and surprise as he looked as though nothing happened to him. Hell, even his clothes didn't look scuffed at all and he had just crashed into a wall. With a scowl he rushed towards him aiming to slash at him with his claws face only to have his wrist effortlessly caught mid-strike by Naruto who wasn't even paying any attention to him.

"When I'm done with this mutt I'll be coming after your carcass make-up boy!" shouted Naruto before turning face to face with Kiba and kicking him in the ribs with enough force to send him flying to the other side of the room.

"It's not make-up, it's war paint!" yelled Kankuro before turning to glare at Temari, who was trying to suppress a giggle.

Kiba groaned as he returned to his feet before glaring at the red cloaked youth. Looking at his partner, Akamaru, he gave the dog a silent command before taking out a few smoke bombs and tossing them at the blond. Naruto, who had yet to move from his position, stood in the black smoke while listening for Kiba and his dog.

Kiba smirked as he came closer towards where he thought Naruto would be. He figured he could surprise him by this tactic and once he smelt that he was in striking range he went to punch the blond in the face only for his opponent to dodge it and counter with an elbow to the stomach which caused the air to leave his lungs. As he struggled to have his air return again, Naruto quickly whirled around and delivered a powerful right hook kick to Kiba's face sending the boy stumbling out of the plum of smoke.

He groaned as he tried to shake off the dizziness he was feeling while looking at the area Naruto was standing to see that the smoke was beginning to clear. His glare intensified when he saw that he was just standing there with his eyes closed.

Naruto smirked as he opened one of his eyes and giving Kiba a small wave which served to fuel the boy's anger even further. Just then, he heard the sound of something approaching him and whirled around to see an airborne Akamaru aiming to bite him. Before the small pup could do this however, Naruto casually parried to the right and delivered a chop to the back of the dog's neck. This caused the dog to yelp in pain until it was grabbed boy the scuff of his back and tossed towards Kiba, who caught him with relative ease.

"If you don't want Akamaru to get hurt try keeping him out of this, mutt," said Naruto calmly while giving Kiba an even stare.

Kiba could only look down at his little friend as his world finally stopped spinning. He then glanced up at Naruto with a look of pure hatred etched onto his face with a ferocious amount of killing intent as he placed his canine friend on the ground.

Meanwhile on the upper floor of the arena, Kurenai was looking down at the fight with her eyebrows raised. "He's improved a lot since the academy; I'll admit that much to you Kakashi."

Kakashi eye smiled at her before looking back down at his student.

"But he's still no match for Kiba, even if he has gotten in a few hits. Remember, Kiba hasn't used most of his tricks yet and now that he's harmed Akamaru I think he's going to stop holding back."

"You keep telling yourself that," replied Kakashi.

"What'd you say?"

"Let's just say, that if Naruto was aiming to kill Kiba, he would have by now."

"And you think this way because…"

"That sword on his waist is not for show Kurenai, it's meant to kill and Naruto had plenty of opportunities to do so a moment ago. Besides I don't think we've seen everything that Naruto is capable of doing quite yet either."

With that said he glanced back down to the arena while ignoring the look Kurenai was giving him.

After taking a few deep breaths, Kiba was able to calm himself a bit and went into his Ninja pouch before taking out two small pills. He quickly ate one before handing the other to Akamaru. Once he ate the strange pill his fur began to change from its regular white to dark red as he growled at Naruto.

"What kind of drugs did you put into that pill of yours?"

"It's not a drug it's a soldier pill you baka," answered Kiba before crouching over as he performed a new net of seals while Akamaru jumped onto his back.

"_Juujin Bunshin!_" called out Kiba as a plume of white smoke engulfed them both. Once the smoke cleared it showed that Akamaru was now gone and replaced with another Kiba who took on a more feral impression than the original.

'Ok, this could be a problem,' thought Naruto as he eyed both Kiba's. Both smirked smugly before charging him at high speeds.

He ducked under a claw swipe from one of the Kiba's which grazed his cheek causing blood to ooze out of the small wound. He parried another strike from the other one as it came too close to hitting his chest. As the original Kiba went to strike behind him, Naruto whirled around to catch his wrist only to have Akamaru come rocketing forward and elbowing him in the ribs with great force, which sent Naruto tumbling across the arena floor.

Naruto gasped in pain as he sat up until he was on one knee. He gripped the right side of his rib cage and felt that two, possibly three, of his ribs were broken. He knew that this was getting out of hand already so he began to channel youki through his body only to feel a massive amount pain erupt from the seal on his neck.

Kiba watched as Naruto gasped in pain and took this as an opportunity to attack. So he and Akamaru charged forward while leaping into the air with claws extended before rotating themselves until they both looked like two gray drills.

"_Gatsuuga!_" cried both as they sped towards the blond. Naruto glanced up in surprise only to be hit, dead on in the chest, by both Inuzuka's and was now being lifted into the air. Naruto screamed in pain the whole way as the fast spinning claws drilled deeply into his skin and, for a moment, he thought that it would never end, before both Kiba's canceled the jutsu while Naruto fell to the floor in a heap.

Naruto groaned as he felt the hanging flesh while blood started to soak his outfit. He lay there, sprawled out in small puddle of his own blood while panting heavily due to the excruciating pain he was in not only from the attack he just received, but the curse seal as well.

"See, you might have gotten a few hits in but other than that, you're still just a dobe," said Kiba smugly as he began to chuckle

Naruto continued to lie still on the ground before attempting to get to his feet and to ignore the pain and the voice in his head.

'Let me free,' whispered the voice. 'Let me free and I'll make him pay for this.'

"N-no, I-I wont lose here-" muttered Naruto as he continued to try and get up. "-I'm g-going to be great someday. I-will become H-hokage."

This only caused Kiba to laugh louder until it was echoing off the arena walls.

"Are you still holding onto that stupid dream of becoming Hokage? Hah, just when I thought you had finally given up on that worthless dream you pull this crap. Do you even _think_ they would make you a Hokage? Tell you what if you want one then I'll become one."

Kakashi couldn't help but watch as Naruto continued to try and get to his feet. To his right, Kurenai was looking pleased with herself while, to his left, Asuma was looking at the boy in pity.

"And he was doing so well, too," said Asuma sadly while taking another puff form his cigarette.

"I told you Kakashi," stated Kurenai. "Kiba is much stronger than Naruto, no matter how much you say he's improved."

Kakashi only stayed silent as he continued to watch his student pant and wheeze in pain. After a few moments of watching this he saw something that made him smile under his mask.

"Hey Kurenai," said Kakashi with a small smirk hidden under his mask. "Do you enjoy watching someone's dream being crushed?"

The woman raised an eyebrow at this but before she could say anything Kakashi continued. "Because if you do then you're going to be disappointed."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I don't think Naruto's going to be playing around anymore either."

That was when Naruto's eyes snapped open to reveal golden slitted orbs. He felt the broken ribs in begin to mend themselves back to normal while the wound on his chest began to heal at an alarming rate due to the youki now flowing freely through him. He slowly raised his head as his blond locks began to morph into silver one's with rusty-orange highlights while his whisker marks began to be replaced by three red marks. He glared at the two Kiba's before standing on both his feet.

Kiba, along with everyone else, gaped as the gash that Kiba had inflicted on him was completely gone. The only identification that he was ever wounded was that the front of his shirt was torn to show his well toned torso that was still smothered in blood. Most of the girls (and women) in the room blushed at the well defined chest muscles the boy had while the males all stood in shock at his new appearance.

Kiba, though still shocked by the transformation, was the first to speak about the change.

"So what, you changed your hair and eye color, big deal. We can still beat you no problem, right Akamaru?" asked the boy before turning to see that Akamaru was now on his knees…bowing to Naruto.

"What are you doing boy!"

"_**He knows his place mutt.**_" stated Naruto with a small smirk. "_**Now stay out of this or you'll be my next target.**_"

Akamaru wordlessly obeyed as a puff of smoke engulfed him until it dispersed to show that the dog was back to normal before running off to hide behind the proctor.

"What's wrong with you boy? Why did you listen to him, he's not your master, I am."

'How did I transform?' thought Naruto as he glanced at his silver hair. 'When I tried to do this a while ago the curse pulsed so… what happened?'

'**You may thank me for this service Naruto-san,' **said a familiar voice in his mind.

'Taishou-san! What happened to you; why haven't you been answering me when I tried to contact you for the past two days?" asked the blond.

'**At the time, I was attempting to repress the strange mark that the man left on you and help block off its evil energies. It was successful but not without a cost. It left me severely drained and I was forced to rest for the past few days. I had just recently reawakened when you attempted to channel your youki.'**

'Yeah about that, when I tried to use it the seal started pulsing. What's that about?"

'**I will explain that at another time, at the moment you do not have much time until the mark will begin to cause you more pain. You must finish this battle as quickly as you possibly can.'**

'Right, thanks again Taishou.'

'**You're welcome.'**

"_**Alright Kiba,**_" said Naruto as he grasped the hilt of his sword. _**"You ready to play in the major leagues now?"**_

"Bring it on, dobe!" yelled Kiba as he rushed towards Naruto before leaping into the air and began spinning like he had earlier.

"_Tsuuga_!"

As the gray drill known as Kiba came closer and closer towards Naruto, the silver haired boy unsheathed his sword before transforming it into its true form. He heard multiple people gasp or stare in awe at the weapon as he turned it to where the flat side of the blade was facing Kiba's attack before stabbing it into ground in front of him.

The moment Kiba's attack connected with Naruto's blade, everyone knew from that point that Kiba was in trouble. The reason why was because as soon as it connected, Kiba bounced off of it like a pinball and ran strait into the wall.

Kiba hissed in pain as he looked at his hands to see that all of his claws had broken while blood seeped through the cracks made in his claws. He looked up in fear as he found no Naruto in sight. As Kiba went to get up, his canine senses picked up a presence behind him and he rolled to the side. He was glad he did because the moment he moved a loud crash was heard and once the dust cleared it showed Naruto with his sword embedded into the ground.

Seeing this, Kiba tried to quickly get back onto his feet only to see Naruto standing in front of him with his sword reared back in a horizontal strike. It was by sheer luck that Kiba ducked underneath it in time as if he had been a second too late, his head would have been rolling across the ground right now. As the blade went over his head he quickly pulled out a kunai and went to stab him. When the blade connected to the cloak however, his kunai only tapped it before the tip of the blade chipped off leaving Kiba shocked once again and also open for another attack.

As Kiba still sat crouched on the ground, Naruto easily grabbed him by the hood of his jacket before tossing him into the wall which was about a foot away from him. Kiba shakily looked back at the golden slitted orbs until he felt his neck being grabbed by a firm, clawed hand. Kiba struggled to get loosen the boy's grip on his neck but to no avail.

"_**Now, time to repay you for that stupid drill thing you hit me with,**_" snarled out Naruto before throwing him into the air.

Sheathing his sword, Naruto extended his middle and index fingers until a familiar yellowish -green glow appeared around them. Lashing out a few times to extend his whip, he glanced up at the still airborne Kiba before lashing it out at the boy. Kiba screamed as the whip tore through his jacket only to feel several more lashes across his body. After taking seven more excruciating strikes he finally felt the attack stop, until something wrapped around his ankle and send him rocketing down towards the arena floor.

Haku flinched when Kiba crashed onto the arena floor as he coughed up blood. She quickly ran over to check up on him and was relieved when she found out he would live before announcing Naruto as the winner.

"Great job Naruto!" cheered Sakura while others still stared at him wide-eyed.

"Good work Naruto," called out Kakashi, which gained him a few stares at his open praise towards his student. But he didn't care he was proud of him and wanted to rub it into Kurenai's face as much as he could.

"Is he like you Gaara?" asked Kankuro as he eyed the boy when his features returned to normal.

"… I do not know." Answered Gaara with a look of confusion etched on his face as he watched Naruto's features return to what they were before.

As Naruto casually walked up the stares he felt a presence appear behind him. Looking over his shoulder he found that the person behind him was none other than the Cloud Kunoichi he was talking to this morning. He blinked a few times as he turned to face her before narrowing his eyes at her.

"What is it, lady?" asked the blond as he noticed the intensity of her stare.

The woman continued to stare at him then, without warning, grabbed his chin and moved his face left and right as though looking for something.

"Hey, where did those red marks go?" she asked while repeating the process a few times before Naruto managed to get her hand off his chin.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You don't just randomly go up somebody and do that!"

The woman only glanced at him before breaking out into a small feral grin. "What's wrong brat? Embarrassed that a girl is touching you?"

The boy could only blush at her comment before huffing and turning away from her. He could hear the blond laughing hysterically behind him which only served to intensify his blush to the point that he matched a tomato.

After calming down a bit the woman sighed before whipping away a small tear. "Sorry brat but the look on your face was just priceless."

"Glad you think it's funny."

"Relax, I was only kidding."

"Could've fooled me, lady."

The woman sighed at that before walking in front of the boy to face him.

"Look, I just came over here to apologize on behalf of my frozen teammate for what happened to your friend. We had no idea he would stoop so low as to attack an opponent when their back is turned. Such acts are done by cowards and I never imagined that he would go that far."

Naruto stayed silent for the longest time as he stared at her. He then sighed as he couldn't find any false truth in what she was telling him.

"Whatever," answered the blond. "But if I see him come anywhere near Tenten again I'll kill him where he stands. That is my only warning I'm going to give him."

With that said he calmly walked past her intent on seeing his team. However, just as he reached the top step he heard the woman call for him.

"Hey brat!"

The said boy turned to face her as his eyebrow began to twitch in annoyance.

"My name is Nii Yugito and it's a pleasure to meet you." Said Yugito with the same feral smile she gave him a few moments ago.

"Likewise and my name is Uzumaki Naruto, but you already knew that didn't you?"

The only reply she gave him was her giving a quick nod before walking onto the arena. Surprised, Naruto glanced up at the board to see that it was in fact her turn to fight.

Nii Yugito vs. Abumi Zaku

Naruto quickly ran over to his sensei, who was now reading his smut again, before standing next to Sakura near the railing. He heard the sound of something snapping shut before turning to see his sensei giving him his serious look.

"Naruto, we need to get that seal taken care of. Let's get going so we don't have to worry about it acting up anymore." Said the man as he prepared to Shunshin to the same room he sealed Sasuke's.

"Wait!" said Naruto hastily which halted the Jounin's actions. "Let me just finish watching these matches, please."

"We cannot afford to take any risks at this point Naruto, I'm sorry but we must go."

"Come on sensei! Some of my friends haven't fought yet and I need to know what I'm going to be up against in the finals!"

"I'll give you all that information and full descriptions of each battle once the sealing is over. The proctors will be logging everything that has transpired here so you will receive the information you seek. But, that seal may start to act up soon so we must go now!"

"But Taishou said it was fine!" The moment he said this, his eyes widened before slapping his hand over his mouth.

But it was too late and now Kakashi's eye narrowed before asking in eerily calm manner. "Who is this Taishou you just mentioned?"

Naruto took a quick glace at Sakura out of the corner of his eye to see that she too was looking at him curiously. Naruto only sighed before giving his sensei the most serious look that the man had ever witnessed.

"Let me stay and I will explain **everything** to you after the sealing."

This caused Kakashi's eye to narrow even further as he didn't like making deals like this. However, if it meant he could gain some answers as to Naruto's progress and this 'Taishou' person he had mentioned than he had no choice but to accept.

So, with a resigned sigh, he nodded before snapping his book open again to let his mind get off the subject for the moment. Naruto only smiled gratefully before turning back to the match that had yet to begin while not noticing the strange look Sakura was giving him.

As Yugito approached the center of the arena floor she couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her opponent's condition. One arm was in a sling while his entire face was covered in bruises and cuts. Overall he didn't look like he could put up much of a fight, let alone win.

The moment Haku announced the fight Yugito had dashed towards the boy while the sound Nin raised his only good arm to point his palm in her direction before blasting a small wave of air towards her. The attack collided only to be replaced by a block of concrete and forcing the boy to look around franticly.

'Where did she go?' asked Zaku to himself as he looked around in every direction. He was answered by a quick kick to the head which caused him to go skidding across the arena until he stopped when he crashed into the wall. He quickly looked up to see that Yugito was once again nowhere to be seen.

He hastily returned to his feet, only to feel Yugito's fist hit him directly in the stomach causing him to gasp for breath. When he lurched forward he felt her knee connect with his jaw causing him to go flying into the wall while bashing the back of his head on it in the process.

Yugito watched with disappointment as her opponent slid down the wall in a heap. He wasn't moving but he was breathing so she knew he wasn't dead. With a sigh she turned to face the Examiner only to hear the sound of someone chuckling softly. When she turned she saw the boy was still on the ground with one palm aimed directly at her before she was hit by a strong gust of air pressure which sent her nine feet across the arena.

"Don't turn your back on the enemy you bitch," spoke Zaku before slowly getting to his feet.

He looked over at the woman he had struck before spitting some blood out along with one of his teeth. As the boy turned to walk away he stopped dead in his tracks when he felt a bone chilling wave of killing intent. He slowly turned his head to face the woman only to see her dark eyes glaring holes into his eye sockets.

She glared at him as he struggled to breathe properly before flashing through twelve seals. Once Yugito finished her seals, jolts of electricity began to surround the blond girl until her entire body seemed to glow with the electrical charge.

"You know," she said calmly as she continued to glare at Zaku. "If you had stayed down you could have avoided this. But now that you pissed me off, I'm just going to end this in the most brutal way I can."

Once those words were spoken she lifted her arm towards the frightened sound Nin before extending her middle and index fingers. As she did this all the electricity that was once surrounding the woman began to form a tiny orb near the tips of the blonde's two fingertips. Once all the electricity was absorbed into the orb, which was now about the size of a baseball, she aimed at the boy before smirking.

"_Raiton:__Rai__ Nami Taihou_."

Hardly anyone saw what happened, all anyone could see and hear was a bright flash and Zaku's screams of pain as he was launched into the wall with a streak of lightning following close behind him. As he hit the wall Haku quickly rushed over to see that Zaku was twitching out of control while blood seeped from his nose, ears, and mouth along with the hole of burnt flesh was visible on his stomach.

'If this one lives than he will not be able to function at all ever again.'

"Winner,Yugito!"

Most people just stared at her was she casually walked to the upper levels. Most people just moved out of her way as she strode passed them with a look of displeasure carved onto her features.

"Did you really have to go that far?" asked her comrade when she approached.

Yugito only shrugged before answering. "Hey, I don't like sneak attacks; you should know that by now after spending a year with me."

The girl only nodded in understanding and asked. "So, what you tell that guy before the match?"

"Nothing important, just my name."

"That's it?"

"Yup."

"You sure you're not telling me something?"

Yugito just looked at her with a raised eyebrow before sighing and looking up at the board. "You'd better get going, your match is about to start."

Shirakumo Kagari vs. Rock Lee

"Yosh! Now I can show everyone how bright my flames of youth burn!" shouted out Lee while pumping his fist into the air.

'That's my thing!' raged Naruto in his mind while others just shook it off as creepy.

"Lee, my adorable pupil, may your youthfulness climb to magnificent heights! I wish you luck my youthful student!" yelled Gai.

Lee stood there, tears flowing down his face before embracing his sensei in a manly hug.

"Thank you Gai-sensei!"

"Don't cry Lee!" yelled the man while the same tears flowed down his cheeks as well.

Everyone around the two began to slowly, and carefully, scoot farther away from the hugging green clad… things called Lee and Gai. Sarutobi could only palm his forehead in annoyance while other Jounin and Chuunin were trying to look professional, even if the sight of the two was disturbing.

"Ahem," coughed Haku calmly. "Would both fighters please come down the arena?"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Haku's eyebrow twitched. "Excuse me-"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

Her fingers twitched. "Fighters please-"

"Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"GET DOWN HERE NOW!" screeched Haku as her eyebrow twitched in annoyance while subconsciously sending a huge wave of killing intent.

In reaction to this Naruto and Sakura were shivering behind Kakashi, who almost dropped his book and didn't like the idea of being used as a meat shield. Shikamaru, Choji, and Ino were cowering on the ground as though an earthquake hit while Asuma was trying to hide his fear by lighting a cigarette while shaking franticly.

Shino, for the first time ever, showed an actually expression of pure fear as he stayed rooted to the spot with Kurenai standing behind him with the same expression on her face. Hell, even Gaara looked a little fazed as he had sand forming a small shield round him and his siblings as they were now gripping onto his gourd like a lifeline with Baki doing his best to remain calm and failing.

All the while Haku only watched as the two fighters dashed to the center of the arena in a fraction of a second making her smile as though she didn't just snap.

'That… was the most terrifying thing I've ever seen,' were the thoughts of most who witnessed Haku's dark side.

Once everyone calmed down enough, Haku called the fight while Lee entered his Taijutsu stance. He took this time to study his opponent for any clues as to what she was capable of. She had long brown hair that that was tied into a single braid which stopped just above her waist. Her eyes were dark brown and were currently sizing him up as well.

Her attire, from what he could tell, was a simple black cloak that hid almost everything on her. Lee was now sure that she was hiding something and decided to wait and see what she would do.

Kagari, almost as if reading his mind, smirked before grabbing her cloak and tossing it off to show that she was wearing a form fitting blue sleeveless shirt, baggy black shorts that stopped a little bit past her knees with matching black Ninja sandals. Lee (and some others) couldn't help but blush at her noticeable assets she was displaying.

"Stop staring you pervert," said Kagari with a smirk.

At this, Gai went frantic while screaming something about 'un-youthfulness' and other such things. Everyone else just shook their heads at this display and turned their attention back to the battle that was about to take place.

"I-I'm not a pervert! Such things are un-youthful and are not to be done at all!" shouted the red faced Taijutsu specialist.

"Yeah, whatever bowl-cut, lets just get started."

Lee only grinned cheekily before rushing forward in a quick burst of speed. He quickly charged towards his target before leaping into the air while spinning his body to perform a flying round house kick.

"_Konoha Senpuu!"_

As the kick came closer, Kagari raised her forearm to block the attack. Lee, and a few others, were shocked when his leg connected to her arm and she remained still, not even registering the kick at all.

"My turn!" shouted Kagari before grabbing his ankle using the same arm she used to block his attack with before throwing him towards the other side of the arena. Lee, however, was able to flip mid air and come skidding across the ground. When he looked up he saw that the Kunoichi was now rushing at him with incredible amount of speed.

She threw a punch directed at the green clad boy's jaw only to have her fist get caught by the said boy who winced slightly at the strength behind the punch. Blocking out the pain, Lee sent a kick to the girls midsection before letting go of the girl's fist and kneeing her in the chin sending her skidding back a bit, but it wasn't enough to make her lose balance. As Lee went to follow up with another attack he was surprised when the girl smirked before stomping both feet into the ground.

"_Konoha Senpuu_!" Yelled Lee as he leaped into the air and delivered a roundhouse kick to Kagari's jaw, causing her to snap her head clockwise.

Lee smiled sadly as he landed but was surprised when Kagari's head snapped back in his direction with a sickening smile glued to her face. As Lee gaped in surprise, Kagari quickly grabbed hold of his arms before heaving her feet out of the ground and kicking Lee with such speed and force, that it seemed like he was hit by a blur.

As the boy came crashing to a halt on the wall, he slowly eased himself out of the hole before ducking under a punch aimed at his chest. The results blew his mind as the force behind the punch that almost connected was enough to demolish that part of the wall leaving a gaping hole where her fist had made contact.

"Wow, I must congratulate you for your great display of youth so far!" praised Lee before giving her the good-guy pose despite the fact that he was in great pain.

Kagari only sweatdropped at this act of praise while looking back at him with a raised eyebrow. "You're a weird guy, you know that right?"

"I get that a lot! But that doesn't extinguish my flames of youth one bit!"

"Whatever, are you ready to get started again?"

Meanwhile, Naruto and the others were all on the edge of there seats while watching this fight with great interest. Most thought that the fight would be rather one sided but as the fight progressed, some were beginning to worry about Lee's safety since, not a single one of Lee's attacks was enough to hurt the girl.

And out of all of the bystanders, Neji, Gai, and Naruto where the ones worried the most. Naruto was looking down at Lee with a look of pure fear for his friend and could tell that Lee was worry about himself since sweat was now visible on his features.

'What are you going to do now Lee?' thought Naruto as he gripped the railing tighter.

"Hey Naruto," said Sakura causing the boy to turn towards her. "Why isn't Lee using Ninjutsu or Genjutsu? Wouldn't that help him in this situation?"

Naruto only looked back down at his friend as the boy struggled to dodge more of Kagari's punches. "He can't."

"Huh?"

"Lee has a condition to where he can't mold chakra in any way. The only thing he has is Taijutsu and whenever he gets serious, I can't even see him. Even with my bloodline I still can't fight him too well," replied Naruto before a small smile began to form on his lips.

"But I've seen your speed; you're way faster than he is when you transform!"

"That's because Lee isn't taking this seriously yet," answered Naruto as he looked over at Gai who was watching Lee with a small smirk.

"Lee!" shouted Gai suddenly from his place on the catwalk, "Take them off!"

This drew several stares to be directed towards the green clad Jounin. The one who was most confused was Lee, who was gaping at his sensei in shock. Kagari, took this opportunity to strike Lee only for him to parry to the side and dash on top of the giant statue in the room.

"But, Gai-sensei, isn't that for only when I need to protect many precious people?" asked Lee as he faced his sensei with a confused look on his face.

The said man only gave the boy his good-guy pose before shouting, "Don't worry Lee! I'll allow it!"

Lee's confused expression soon changed to a cheeky grin before removing his legwarmers to reveal a giant set of weights on each leg. After witnessing Tenten once her weights were removed, Kagari could only guess how much more there were on the set Lee was wearing.

"Yosh! I can move easier now than before!" shouted Lee as he held each weight in one hand before dropping them.

Now Kagari and some of the others expected that the weights were going to be a lot heavier than the ones Tenten was wearing. What they didn't expect was for two dust clouds that reached all the way up to where Lee was standing to come from him dropping the two weights.

'This could be bad,' thought Yugito as she eyed her teammate who had the same thought run through her head.

"Don't you think you over did it Gai?" asked Kakashi as he eyed his fellow Jounin.

The said man ignored him before nodding to his student in a silent command. Lee only smirked in response and disappeared from everyone's view, even some of the Chuunin and Jounin.

When he reappeared, he was crouched down in front of Kagari before delivering a strong uppercut to her jaw, sending the girl flying off her feet from the unexpected attack. As she flipped mid-air to find her opponent, she found that he was gone only for him to appear in front of her once more.

"_Konoha Dai Senpuu_!" yelled the boy as he launched several kicks towards his opponent's abdomen, left shoulder, and right cheek before performing an axe-kick to her forehead sending her crashing down to the arena floor.

Kagari groaned as she shakily returned to her feet. As she was she noticed Lee appear from the corner of her eye and whirled around to try and strike him only for no trace of him to be found. Suddenly, Lee's figure could be seen, or to be more precise, his after images could be seen zipping past her and some even going through her.

After continuing this for a good few minutes, she finally had enough and went to get some distance away from him until a fist connected with her jaw once more causing her to lose her balance and stumble to the ground. Kagari staggered as she got up while Lee was now looking at her with a raised eyebrow.

'She should be knocked out by now,' thought Lee as he watched Kagari wipe some blood her face. 'Then again, none of my attacks have been able to do much to her. It's only now that I've been able to hurt her.'

"Excuse me Kagari-san," said the boy. "But how are you able to last this long against my attacks?"

The girl in question only stared at him oddly before smirking. "Simple, my body has always been in the best physical condition since the day I was born."

"Huh?"

"My body was naturally strong and it was believed that I had a bloodline that increased my physical condition, to the point that I was considered inhuman. Of course I could still be hurt but my pain tolerance is so much higher than an average person's is. So, in a since, I'm a naturally born superhuman."

At this point most people were shocked at the power at this girl's disposal, and the fact that Lee was fighting a person like her struck fear into the hearts of many of his friends. Lee on the other hand was staring at her with a determined look in his eyes. It was at this time, Gai knew what was going through his students head.

"Lee, it's fine, you may use it if you must!" yelled Gai even if he knew it wasn't necessary. His student had already made up his mind, and all he was doing was giving him his support.

Lee, for once, didn't comply with what his sensei had said. Instead, he began to unravel his bandages on his arms. Not knowing what was happening, Kagari only watched as this transpired with a small glimmer of amusement in her eyes. Once his bandages where finally unraveled, Lee glared at Kagari with the same burning determination blazing in his eyes.

"Kaimon; kai," muttered Lee before rushing towards her in sound breaking speeds as he began to circling around her.

The next thing anyone saw was Lee appearing underneath Kagari before delivering an upward kick to her chin sending her skywards. As she soared through the air, Lee then jumped after her before appearing behind her as his bandages began to wrap themselves around her before grabbing onto her midsection to keep her from escaping.

As the two started their descent, Kagari was doing everything in her power to get Lee off her and was surprised when it wasn't working. She noticed they when now starting to spin and was quickly picking up its pace.

"_Omote Renge_!" hollered out Lee as they came closer towards the ground.

As Kagari felt herself getting closer to the ground, she closed her eyes before focusing chakra to her forehead. Immediately, a small kanji for Body appeared before it faded away. Lee, who had only felt a small spike of chakra, didn't think much of it before releasing himself from Kagari as she went crashing head first into the arena floor.

The whole room was silent with the only one making any noise was Lee, who was now panting heavily due to the after effects of his attack.

"Well it's been decided," stated Haku calmly. "The winner of this match is-"

"I aint done yet!" yelled Kagari from inside the crater that was just made.

Everyone was surprised when Kagari returned to her feet as though nothing had happened, despite the blood pouring out of her nose and mouth. Lee was now staring at her with a look of pure terror etched on his face. After all, who wouldn't be afraid after performing a powerful attack only to find that it had no effect on your opponent?

And the only thing he could do was ask one question on his mind. "H-h-how?"

The girl only smirked triumphantly at his question. "I removed my _Genkai no Fuuin._"

"S-Seal of Limitation?"

"Correct, since I could never truly control my massive strength or any of my other abilities my village had to come up of a way to suppress them enough for me to do certain things. For Example: If I was to hold a glass while not having my Seal of Limitation active, it would shatter the moment I grabbed hold of it. The seal I released was _Kyouka _or Intensify. What it does is not only increase my strength slightly; it also increases the density of my bones, muscles, and allows my senses to become sharper."

Lee was now sweating heavily after her explanation was finished; it was only his luck that he would end up fighting one of the strongest opponents in this Exam. Only his luck, that he couldn't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. It was only his luck that he was now going to most likely die.

"But don't feel too bad weirdo, you're the first one in a long time that has forced me to release even one of my seals. Not many even last this long against me, so feel proud of yourself for forcing me to act truly serious."

In Lee's now exhausted state he couldn't have, in any way, defended himself from Kagari as she vanished from his view only to appear in front of him to deliver am unbelievably powerful punch to his abdomen. The result ended up making Lee go airborne with a great amount of blood shooting out of his mouth. A second later, she appeared behind him while he was still in the air and launched another powerful kick to his back, sending the poor boy into the wall above the cat-walks.

The Suna team only stared at the boy in pity, with the exception of Gaara who was looking at him with a blank expression on his face. As Lee groaned in pain from the two bone breaking attacks, before he shrieked in pain as another punch slammed into his chest causing him to be buried deeper into the wall. He felt Kagari's smooth hand wrap around his neck as she pulled him out of the hole with little effort as blood from his mouth began to travel down passed his chin and onto her hand.

Lee stared into the brunette's dark brown eyes, which held no pity, no remorse, just cold ruthless eyes staring into his own broken and bruised form. With a sigh she tossed him casually out onto the arena floor in front of a horrified looking Haku.

"What are you waiting for?" asked Kagari with a sigh. "Call the match."

Haku glanced down at the now groaning green clad Genin before her and could only imagine the amount of pain he was feeling.

She was about to call the match when a familiar voice called out. "Don't you dare call this match yet! Lee can still win this!"

Everyone turned to stare at Naruto, who was ignoring the looks as he continued to stare at Lee with unreadable look etched onto his face.

"Naruto you idiot; look at him! He can barely stand, let alone fight someone like her anymore! If he does he'll die!" yelled Sakura as she glared at the blonde next to her.

"I know he can win, I just know he can," answered the boy while not once taking his eyes off Lee.

Sakura growled at this and was about to retort when she heard the voice of Lee choke out, "S-s-sorry N-Naruto-kun, b-but I cannot fight any longer."

And for the first time since anyone could remember, Naruto was speechless. He stood their wide-eyed as he stared down at the one person he would have never expected to hear those words come from. His silence however, didn't last long as his grip on the railing tightened to the point that it bent under the pressure.

"So that's it huh? You're just going to give up on everything you've worked so hard to achieve! Are you going to let that all go when something too big gets in your way! That's **not **the Lee I know! The Lee I know would rather die than let himself give up on his goals He'd rather die trying than to let himself give up on the his dream!"

Gai could stare at the red clad boy as tears spilled from his eyes and were now going down his cheeks. He was proud to know that someone like Naruto was Lee's friend and it was a shame that the two hadn't met sooner. Sure it had only been a few months since their first encounter, but in that short time, Lee and Naruto had developed at rather strong bond with each other. Both had dreams that they wished to accomplish and deep down, he knew both would rather die than to see them crushed.

And Gai wasn't the only one who was touched by the speech. From his place on the ground, Lee's tears threatened to burst as the boy finished. With much effort, Lee straitened his resolve as he went to stand, only to wince in pain coming form his back and his chest.

"Great speech blondie, but this kid is all out of steam. He can barely stand, let alone fight me anymore," spoke Kagari calmly as she watched Lee attempt to return to his feet.

"D-don't you dare speak to him like that," snarled out Lee as he finally stood up while blood seeped down his mouth. "And I'm not done yet; after all the Lotus of the Leaf blooms twice."

Kagari only rolled her eyes before speeding towards Lee with her fist reared back and ready to strike. Imagine her surprise when she only hit the arena floor while Lee was to her far left.

Kakashi's eyes widened as he looked over at Gai with a small frown under his mask. "You taught him how to open the _Hachimon _didn't you?"

"... Yes, I taught him."

"Why, you should know better than to teach something so deadly to a simple Genin."

"I did what I thought was right and I do not regret it Kakashi. I wanted to help him accomplish his dream, so that's what I did."

"So, what is the _Hachimon _you two keep talking about?" asked Sakura.

"In the inner coils of the body that chakra flows through there are eight points: _Kaimon_, _Kyuumon_, _Seimon_, _Shoumon_, _Tomon_, _Keimon_, _Kyoumon_, and _Shimon_. These are known as the eight gates. These gates are constantly working to limit the amount of chakra that flows in the body, the Lotus forces these gates to open by using chakra. By doing this it allows the user to release ten times the amount of power than usual, while the user's body suffers the consequence."

"All the while, doing this is one big double edged sword. Opening all eight gates will give you the power far surpassing that of a Kage for a short period of time. However, by doing so you must suffer the ultimate price."

"Death," finished Gai as he looked down at his student as he placed his forearms in front of his face in a X like fashion before feeling his chakra begin to rise.

'Neji, Sasuke, Naruto, everyone...' thought the boy as flashes of his rivals appeared in his head while chakra continued to erupt from his body. 'I won't be the only one to lose here!'

"Seimon; kai!"

Soon, rubble started to lift up into the air from the monstrous amounts of chakra pouring out of the boy. Moving his arms showed the veins in his forehead were clearly visible. His skin was now dark red and he was now glaring at his opponent, as she stood shocked at the amount of chakra he was releasing.

After overhearing Kakashi's explanation of these gates, Kagari was not willing to let Lee open of these gates. So, shaking her worries away, she leaped forward with as she launched a roundhouse kick towards the boy's head. To her surprise, Lee had effortlessly caught her foot mid-air before tossing her foot to the side and sending a punch to her abdomen. Kagari coughed blood do to the massive amount of power that was put into that one punch. Hell, she guessed that it was equal to one of her own punches when her _Kyouka_ seal released. So it was no surprise to her when she came crashing into the opposite wall of the arena in a heap.

She looked back at Lee with an astonished gaze before feeling his chakra levels begin to rise again, signifying that he was opening another gate. She hastily returned to her feet before focusing chakra into her upper arm.

"_Genkai no Fuuin: Atsu, Kai,_" she mumbled as a kanji for strength appeared on her upper arm before fading away like the previous one. Instantly, her muscles bugled slightly and became more defined while steam began to rise off her.

"_Shoumon, Kai_!" shouted Lee as he felt the overwhelming amounts of chakra and power begin to flood his body. He looked up to see that Kagari was not sitting by idly as she too was performing something of a similar multitude as he was.

"_Genkai no Fuuin: Baasuto, Kai_!" Yelled the girl as the kanji for speed appeared on her left shoulder blade, then faded. At this, her calf muscles bulged further as steam was now radiating off her. She glared back at her opponent and he did the same. Both knew that, one way or anther, one of them was going to win, no matter what it took to claim it.

So, with a ferocious war-cry, both sped towards each other with speeds that almost completely leveled the entire arena and Haku, had she not had moved out of the blast zone. And just as quickly as they disappeared, they appeared again with both taking a powerful right hook to each other's faces sending them both flying back.

They were both able to flip mid-air, despite the blistering speeds, and springboard themselves back into the action, while leaving small craters in both sides of the wall. Soon it was back to becoming blurs and split second views of each fighter landing either an attack or them rebounding off the wall or floor before zipping off back into the battle again.

This continued for a good while until finally Lee managed to gain the upper hand by delivering an upward kick to her chin which sent her flying into the air again. Before the girl could even blink, Lee was in front of her glaring daggers at her before sending another powerful punch to her chest when sent her flying towards the wall. She expected to come in contact with the wall only to felt a kick hit her hard in the back which sailing upwards again.

To everyone that was below them watching, it seemed as though Kagari was being tossed around like a pinball and she was the ball. Soon Lee's speed began to falter and his muscles began to snap. He knew he had to end this, so with that in mind, he forced open the fifth gate before going in for the finisher.

Pushing off the ceiling, he sped forward as fast as his body would allow, before punching Kagari as hard as he could to her midsection. As she went down towards the ground she felt her body jerk and Lee, who was holding onto the bandage that he had wrapped around her waist gave it a fierce tug. As Kagari came closer, she began to see Lee rear his right palm back along with his right foot until she was in striking range.

"_Ura Renge_!" Hollered out Lee before striking her dead in the chest sending both fighters crashing down to the ground kicking up a massive amount of dust making everyone in the room shield their eyes.

When the dust was finally cleared, Lee was crouched on the ground, bleeding profusely while Kagari lay in the crater motionless. Haku, was the first on the scene, she quickly ran up and checked the girls pulse and was astonished that she was living, albeit, barely.

"The winner, Lee!"

"YOSH!" shouted Gai and Naruto at the same time while others were standing there gaping at the green clad youth that was standing in the arena with a huge grin on his face. No doubt, even while in the pain he was in, he was still able to smile graciously at his sensei and friend… before passing out onto the arena floor with a loud thud.

"Lee!" yelled Naruto as he prepared to jump down only to stop when he heard the sound of loud snoring.

Most sweatdropped at this while others just chuckled softly at the boy's actions. After the medical team came and picked up the two exhausted Ninja, Haku cleared her throat before asking all winners to come down to the floor… or what was left of it.

When all winners were accounted for, with the exception of Sasuke, Lee and Tenten, Haku spoke. "For those of you who have won your matches, congratulations; now we can begin with the main part of this Exam." She then turned towards Sarutobi before gesturing him to continue for her.

"As it was stated before, in the main event, your matches will be seen by everyone. Each of you will be fight to represent the strengths of your countries. I'd like you all to show all your skills with no reserves; which is why the finals will be held in one month."

"Why a month?" asked Yugito curiously.

"This is a way to hone your skills and rest for the upcoming event. If we were to proceed with this by lets say, the next few days, most of you wouldn't be at your prime and the last thing we want is to disappoint the people who will be coming to watch these fights."

"Well that makes sense," replied Choji as he munched down on his chips.

"Not only that, but the one month time period is needed since it takes a lot of time to contact other nations and daimyo's for this event, along with traveling from places like Kumo. Also, in this battle you were all able to witness firsthand some of your fellow competitors' abilities. But, for those who have been badly injured, this month could be used for rest and that's all there is to it. But before I dismiss you, I want you to take a piece of paper inside the box that Anko is holding. Once everyone has one call out your number and that will determine who you will be fighting in the final rounds."

"But some of them aren't here," said Naruto

"Don't worry, we will have someone else take one in their place, now please start passing out the numbers Anko-chan."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," said Anko as she walked forward with a box in her hands.

One by one the contestants pulled out their slips of paper until only three were left. Anko picked up Tenten's number for her, while Ibiki picked up Sasuke's and Gai picked up Lee's.

Naruto: 1

Temari: 5

Gaara: 9

Tenten: 8

Lee: 4

Neji: 2

Sasuke: 10

Choji: 3

Shikamaru: 6

Yugito: 7

"Now the match ups will be as follows. Naruto vs. Neji, Tenten vs. Yugito, Temari vs. Shikamaru, Lee vs. Choji, and Sasuke vs. Gaara. Remember, you have one month to prepare so be ready. But, as of now, you are free to do as you please and are all dismissed."

Naruto only glanced at Neji for a moment before looking up at the cat-walk to see Kakashi standing there waiting for him. He sighed heavily as he leaped up to greet him only to see that his sensei was giving him a serious glare.

"As agreed Naruto, you will now explain to me **everything** about these abilities you've been getting."

Naruto could only nod before glancing over his shoulder to see if Sakura was listening in. When he found that she was he looked back at his sensei who understood Naruto's discomfort and Shunshined them to a more private locations leaving a grim looking Sakura behind.

When the two finally stopped they were outside on the roof of the tower which gave both a nice view of the forest. When Kakashi looked back down at Naruto the boy only sighed again before plopping down on his rear.

"Alright, do you want it from the beginning or during the last few months?"

"The beginning, please," replied Kakashi as he too seated himself.

"Well, it all started after the battle at the bridge in Wave-"

* * *

**Jutsu List**

Bubun Baika no Jutsu - Partial Multi-Size Technique

Baika no Jutsu - Multi-Size Technique

Kamaitachi - Cutting Whirlwind

Soushouryuu - Twin Rising Dragons

Kage Mane no Jutsu - Shadow Imitation Technique

Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Kaiton - Whirl

–

Sabaku Kyuu - Desert Coffin

Sabaku Sousou - Desert Funeral

Gatsuuga - Dual Piercing Fang

Tsuuga - Piercing Fang

Raiton: Rai Nami Taihou - Lightning Release: Lightning Wave Cannon

Konoha Senpuu - Leaf Whirlwind

Konoha Dai Senpuu - Leaf Great Whirlwind

Omote Renge - Front Lotus

Hachimon - The Eight Gates

Kaimon - Opening Gate

Kyuumon - Rest Gate

Seimon - Life Gate

Shoumon - Wound Gate

Tomon - Limit Gate

Keimon - View Gate

Kyoumon - Wonder Gate

Shimon - Death Gate

Genkai no Fuuin - Seal of Limitation

Kyouka - Intensify

Atsu - Force

Baasuto - Burst

Ura Renge - Reverse Lotus

**End of Jutsu List**

(Pant, pant, pant) That, was the longest chapter I've ever written. I hope you enjoyed it (cause if not I hate you). Also, don't comment on Yugito cause she's a bit Oc in this fic. Oh and before I forget my beta reader has something to say to all of you.

Critic's notes: Jeebus! This was a long one. Due to circumstances out of both SF88's and my control, namely vacations for both of us, this came a fair bit late. But hey, at least you guys get nearly 20,000 words of chapter, so NO COMPLAINING! I'm happy to say that SF88 has gotten a LOT better at writing than he was when he started this thing, so my job, while still involving an overwhelmingly long amount of time, has gotten easier. Give the man some applause for his increasing skill, folks! Anyway, I'll pass it off to him now. Party on dudes, and be excellent to eachother!

Thanks man, and give him a round of applause for his hard efforts in editing this chapter! So, be sure to tell me how I did and if you don't like it don't bug me with a flame, cause i got shit to do and another chapter in the making. So R&R or I'll...fuck, just review and you can sleep another night without fear of waking up in a dark room chained to the wall with leeches coving you head to toe.


	11. Unsealing, Meetings, and the Wind Scar

Yo, welcome back my faithful readers! I have some rather sad news...well sad news to you guys that is. My happy ass is going to Mexico for ten days baby! But seriously, I don't own a labtop so I won't be able to update during the course of those ten days. But don't be disguraged my readers, cause i aim to start up on the other chapter as quickly as I can when I return. Anyway, on with the chapter and don't worry, I'll be sure to have as much with the chica's as I can for all of you guys.

Speaking" Normal

Speaking'Thinking

_"Speaking' _Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon speaking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

**_"Speaking" _**Demon Naruto speaking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Naruto sighed again for what felt like the tenth time in one day as he sat in his room with his sword in his lap. It had been a day since the preliminary rounds finished and he had visited Lee and some of his other friends. Lee was in bad shape after opening five of the gates but, to Naruto's amazement, Lee was still able to attend the finals. Though the doctor had said that he would be unable to use the gates, Naruto had a feeling that Lee would try and use them again if he had to. He also saw Tenten while he was there and was happy to note that she would be able to leave in two more days.

But for Naruto, he had a few problems he had to deal with. Yes, he had the curse seal taken care of by Kakashi, but the seal on his stomach had yet to be touched and he was anxious to get it off. The only problem was that, from what Kakashi had told him, only the Hokage could take it off and he had been too busy in preparation for the finals that he couldn't afford to be interrupted. Not only that, but he still had to train for the finals and while Sasuke was training with Kakashi, he had been left without a sensei.

But, he wasn't discouraged at all by it, since he still had much more to learn from Kyuubi and Taishou. That was **if** he was able to see them and he could somehow talk to the Hokage to get the seal off him. With a sigh he looked back down at his sword before deciding to make an attempt on visiting Taishou.

With that in mind, he sat his sword beside him before sitting crossed-legged on his bed and closed his eyes in concentration. He felt his grip on the waking world slowly fade as he entering his mind.

"Hey brat!" until the shout from Zabuza interrupted his meditation.

Growling in annoyance, Naruto got off his bed and went to his door to hear hard banging. With a flicker of his wrist, he extended his youki whip to turn to turn the knob and open the door to see the former missing-nin standing in his doorway looking rather peeved.

"What?" Growled out Naruto

"The hot water heater is busted again."

Yes, Uzumaki Naruto knew the basics to repairing and installing new mechanics since the age of ten. It was one of the things he learned from Yuma while he had been around and thanks to his old owner; he was forced to learn how to fix most of the problems that accrued in his home. Ever since then he has always thankful for the old man's teachings since it saved him lots of money during those times when money was scarce.

Throwing the man a half heated glare, Naruto walked passed the man and down the stares leading to Zabuza's apartment to survey the problem before he brought his tools out. Opening the door, he noticed that the man's place looked relatively clean with a few shirts, pants, and a copy of Icha Icha Paradise lying around. Walking over to one of the closets, he opened the door find that the water heater looked fine.

"Are you trying to piss me off Zabuza? You're water heaters fine!" Hollered Naruto as his eyebrow began to twitch.

The said man was quiet for a few moments before sticking his head through the doorway. "Who said **my**water heater was busted?"

Unnoticed by him, the twitch in Naruto's eyebrow picked up in pace as he looked back at the man with pissed off look on his face. He only shook his head to try and calm down as he walked out of Zabuza's home and towards Haku's front door.

"Is she home?"

"Yeah she should be."

He nodded before knocking on her door. After waiting a few seconds and hearing no reply, he turned the knob to find that her door was unlocked.

"Will she mind if I go in?"

"Naw, she's not the type to care if you walk in unless it's on a mission."

Walking inside, he found, as expected, that her home was cleaner than Zabuza's was. But, it wasn't his job to survey her home, he was here to repair something. So he walked over towards the closet door where the hot water heater was located only find that it was located directly in Haku's room.

At that point, warning bells began to go off in his head and he started to suspect that something bad was going to happen soon. Hesitantly, he opened the closet door too see the hot water heater looking brand new and clinched his fist so hard that his knuckles were now white.

"That bastard Zabuza." Mumbled Naruto darkly before sensing a presence behind him.

He slowly turned his head to see a scarlet faced Haku, who was clad in only a pair of white panties with a blue towel wrapped around her neck which hid her other assets, standing stiff as a board in the doorway to the room. How he hadn't noticed that she was in the shower, would be the question on his mind for the next few hours…if he lived that long that is.

The only thing he could do was blush as scarlet as she was before doing the only thing he could think of. He made a mad dash towards the only conveniently opened window in the room before leaping out it and all the while screaming one thing.

"DAMN YOU ZABUZA!"

Even as he collided with the ground he managed to land on all fours before racing off in a blur of red and yellow down the road towards the only place he could really get his mind off this…incident, Ichiraku Ramen.

**Fifteen Bowls of Ramen Later**

The boy let out a sigh after completing his last bowl. It was one of the few things that really took his mind off things, that and Ayame was always someone he could talk to without worrying about what she would say.

It had always been like that for as long as he could remember. Hence why he called her nee-chan sometimes, she was always there, and would always listen to him when he had a problem about something. It was also the fact that she was one of his few female friends that didn't hit him for everything stupid he said.

"So you just bolted when you saw her?" asked the waitress with a small frown on her face.

"Yeah," answered the blond sheepishly "I did that because I know what was going to happen if I stayed their so that's why I came here."

"But you know she's still going to kill you for invading her privacy, she might even think you're a pervert now that you saw her like that."

"Hey, I was tricked so I shouldn't be the one to blame!"

"But you saw her!"

"Yeah, but it wasn't intentional!"

"But you still liked what you saw didn't you?"

At this Naruto only blushed a bit before huffing since her words, in all honesty, were true. This action made Ayame giggle a bit before walking over and began to ruffle his hair.

"You look so adorable when you're upset." Cooed Ayame as she started to then stroke his hair. "I wish my hair was this smooth."

The boy blush soon darkened at the first comment as he ideally wondered if all females were strange. Though, some part of him took the time to notice that Teuchi was sharpening his knife a little too harshly for his liking.

"W-well I gotta run Ayame-chan but I'll see you'll around. Later!" Yelled the blond as he swiftly got out of the waitress's grasp, placed his money on the table, and dashed out the stall with the intension of having some training done **far **away from the female population today.

And poor Ayame was now staring at the spot Naruto once stood with a curious look in her eyes before stomping her foot on the ground in a childish manner.

"Damn, I didn't even get to ask what he used to get his hair that smooth." Muttered the waitress angrily before huffing and going into the back while carrying half of the fifteen empty bowls of ramen that Naruto had devoured. Teuchi on the other hand was looking at the spot Naruto was just standing at with an amused smile on his face. Yes, things where getting interesting and he knew that whatever was going on, was funny as hell in his eyes.

**Back with Naruto**

It had been tricky on his part, but he did it. He had snuck into his home without being detected and retrieved his sword and was now sitting under the bridge that went over one of the hot springs. While he wasn't sure this would work, it would at least keep him away from females at the moment as, at the moment, things where getting weird with him and the girls around him.

'It's like some sort of weird story where the writer starts messing with the main character's luck,' thought Naruto while glancing down at the hot waters that the springs provided, 'Of course, if it was, then I'd be breaking the fourth wall now! Heh, like that's ever happen.'

The boy only shrugged before relaxing himself again to where he could enter his mind. He was close to succeeding when he heard the sound of faint giggling coming from not too far away. Glancing in that direction, he found a white haired man dressed in full Kabuki get-up with a scroll strapped onto his lower back hiding in a small bush while scribbling something into his notebook.

Now normally, Naruto really wouldn't care all too much since he had seen all sorts of perverts hanging around the village. But this one was not only open about it, he was also disturbing him and Naruto was now too annoyed at not getting any focus on his meditation.

So with a twitch of his wrist and youki flowing through his fingertips, his youki whip came forth and lashed across the man's back which earned him a loud yelp of sudden pain. The old man in question turned to glare at the source of the attack to see a blonde boy in a red cloak glare back at him with a small smirk on his face.

"What're you smiling at you little brat." Snarled the man

"You're rotten luck, that's what." Replied Naruto in a sarcastic tone

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I don't think the girls on the other side will be happy when I holler out pervert."

The man's face went from anger to horror in the faction of a second. Naruto only grinned as he prepared to yell when the man appeared in front of him with his hand covering Naruto's mouth.

'Holy crap!' thought Naruto with widened eyes as the man calmly moved his hand away from the boy's mouth.

"If you yell you'll be the only one to be stuck in here to take the blame."

"How do you figure that one chief?"

"Simple." Said the man before pointing behind Naruto. "He'll keep you here and leave when the girls come to kick your ass."

Naruto turned to follow the man's finger only to have his eyes widen further as a giant toad stood behind him with its eyes set only on him. Looking back at the man and then the toad he was able to come to one conclusion.

"Y-your Jiraiya; the Toad Sannin!"

The man only grinned happily as he performed a strange stance before shouting out. "That's right, I'm M.T Myobokugama's Holy Master and don't you forget it brat!"

Naruto sweatdropped at this act of pure foolishness and ideally wondered if he acted that way before he met Tenten. Once the man's little act was over, he looked over at him with a raised eyebrow.

"But, how do you know me? You don't look like the type of kid who knows about famous people like myself."

"I'll ignore the crack on my intelligence and explain. My friend is a big fan of one of you Sennin and wants to become as great as she is one day. She read up on all of them and told me bits and pieces of each of you. I wasn't all that interested but all I got from it was that each one had a contract, you had toads, one had slugs, and one had snakes. Personally, I didn't think I would meet any of you."

"Well then, you must be proud to meet one of us in this lifetime. Though, one of them isn't among us anymore, but still you should take it as a privilege to even see one of us at all."

"I've met one of you before."

This made Jiraiya slump a bit before grumbling out. "Who was the first one you met?"

"Orochimaru."

With that one name, Jiraiya's interest peaked to the point that his expression was unreadable. He had heard that the snake Sennin had been spotted inside the village but he had no idea why he was here. He had a feeling it was something to do with the Uchiha or quite possibly a plan to kill Sarutobi.

His thoughts where interrupted when he heard the blonde mumble out. "Still got to get that seal off my gut too, damn Hebi-teme."

In an instant, Naruto felt Jiraiya's gaze upon him and looked to see that the man was giving him a dead serious look.

"What kind of seal are we talking about?"

Naruto could feel the coldness of his words and felt a small shiver travel up his spine. He knew that there was no point in denying it since the man clearly heard him. Not only that, but he could tell, after witnessing how fast he was, that even if he transformed into his Yokai form that this man could rip him to shreds and not even break a sweat.

He slowly lifted his shirt to as he channeled chakra throughout his body before revealing the seal for the entire world to see. The man kneeled down as he examined the seal placed onto him with a skeptical look before sighing.

'Definably Orochimaru's work...' "Alright brat, this is going to hurt but I can remove the seal for you."

Naruto could only grin happily at finally getting the stupid seal off him. Though Taishou was his friend, he missed hearing Kyuubi a lot since he wasn't sure if she was alright…and the fact that he loved her hugs whenever he showed up in his mindscape.

Jiraiya slowly flowed chakra into his fingertips as light blue flames began to appear around them before giving Naruto a nod, who nodded back as he braced himself. With out any hesitation, the man slammed his fingers into the boy's stomach as Naruto bit his lip to hold back his scream as he felt the burning pain crash into the seal.

"_Gogyou Kaiin._" Muttered the man as he moved his hand away from the seal as the extra markings left by Orochimaru faded away. He watched as Naruto fell to one knee gasping as the burning pain started to die down to a small stinging sensation. Naruto continued to wheeze on the ground before glancing up at Jiraiya.

"I'm going to see her, if I don't wake up in the next thirty minutes, wake me up alright."

He watched as Jiraiya's confused expression changed to one of slight understanding and returned to his meditative seating poster before closing his eyes and concentrating.

**Mindscape**

Naruto's eyes snapped open to see the sight of a lush green clearing of grass. He sighed happily at finally being able to return to his own mind before getting to his feet. He walked towards the small path between the trees and walking towards the two huts. After a while, the huts came into view and he was able to witness one of the most humorous sights he would ever see in his lifetime.

There, standing in-between the two huts was Kyuubi and Taishou, with the latter caught in a vice grip embracement. What was made the boy laugh was the fact that Taishou, the mighty dog leader, was turning purple under Kyuubi's powerful hug.

"**I missed you Mikiba-chan!"** squealed out Kyuubi

"I-it is w-wonderful to see you as well K-Kyuubi-dono. However, I-I cannot breath properly." Gasped out the fellow demon while trying to pry the vixen off him.

Oh it was a priceless sight to see; in fact Naruto doubted he would ever forget this moment even if he went brain-dead. That was why he crashed to the ground, laughing hysterically the whole time. That is, until the sun's rays were blocked by a tall shadow looming over him. He looked up in horror to see a gleeful looking Kyuubi standing above him with all nine of her tails swaying happily behind her.

"U-um, yo Kyuubi-chan." Said the boy nervously

In a flash of a second, Kyuubi had Naruto in her tight embrace while nuzzling his cheek with a big smile on her face. Had he not been focused on his breathing he would have noticed the amused look Taishou was giving the two from his spot by the huts.

"**Naruto-kun, I missed you too!"** Squealed Kyuubi as she tightened her grip on him. **"I'm happy to see that you stayed safe while I was sealed away. Are you ok? Did anything bad happen to you while I was gone? Are you still a virgin?"**

"What does **that** have anything to do with any of this?" asked a now violet faced Naruto while finally becoming successful in prying the vixen off him.

Said woman only shrugged before replying. **"It was just a joke, besides I don't want to see some slut to take away something as precious as that."**

'Suuurrreee.' Thought Naruto dryly 'and I'm a six foot tall bunny.'

"**I heard that and I'm being honest." **

"Hey; you promised no mind reading!"

At the sound of someone clearing their throat, both turned to see Taishou standing above them with the same smile he had before. Naruto grinned up at him while Kyuubi continued to nuzzle his cheek.

"I am glad for your return Naruto-san. I assume that the seal that Scarecrow placed on you has been successful?"

"You mean Kakashi? Oh well yeah, it worked since I don't hear whispering in my head anymore." Said the blond Hanyou before looking back at Kyuubi. "You can stop that now."

"**Doesn't mean I want to though." **Mumbled the vixen to herself before getting off the blonde boy. **"So, what are we going to be doing now?"**

"Well…I don't know, I have one month to train for the finals. My sensei can't do it since he is training with Sasuke and I've still haven't mastered the youki whip. I was thinking you could give me something else to work on or something."

Taishou nodded his head a few times before striking a thinking pose. He knew Naruto's youki training had been doing very well since he last checked but, a part of him wasn't sure if he was ready for what he had in store for him next. Glancing back at Naruto, he pondered the pros and cons of what he was about to do and decided to test and see if Naruto was indeed ready or not.

"Naruto-san I must ask you something." Stated the dog commander with a serious stare. "If you answer this incorrectly, I will halt all my teachings and force you to learn all Tessaiga's secrets without my assistance. Am I understood?" He watched as Naruto slowly nod with staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

"What is it you plan to do with what I am teaching you?"

Naruto only continued to stare at Taishou as though he grew a second head before answering. "I plan to become Hokage and protect my loved ones."

"What if I told you it could turn you into a full blooded demon?"

"I wouldn't care so long as my loved ones stay safe."

"Would you succumb to that dark side of yourself to obtain the full extent of my teachings?"

Now, Naruto's expression changed from confusion to dead serious. "No."

"Hm?"

"**No?"**

"No matter what you can teach me or how strong you are, I refuse to turn into that monster. I'll bleed to learn what you teach me but if I must be that way to turn into that **thing** for such teachings, then I don't want them cause they aint worth having."

Taishou and Kyuubi both spared a glance at each other before going back to looking back at Naruto with a whole new perspective. It was even apparent in this voice that he indeed hated that darkness inside him with an undying passion.

"I will ask you one last time; are you positive about that choice? Mind you, if you get this wrong, then I will not longer be teaching you anymore or less."

"Look Taishou-san, if you want me to give into that thing then you can keep them cause I don't want them. I vowed that I would never become that thing ever again I even carved this kanji into my hand to prove it." Stated the blond with a strait face while raising his palm to show the kanji he had written on palm during the forest of death.

Taishou, didn't even try to suppress his smirk at the blond who was till sitting on the ground in front of him. It was with that the Tessaiga began to glow bright yellow before disappearing from Naruto's side.

The said boy glance left and right until he spotted his sword floating mid-air about seven feet away from him with yellow light still surrounding it in what looked like a cocoon of energy. Soon, the cocoon began to morph into a human like outline before fading to reveal the same man he had seen in the forest.

"Naruto-san this is my son, Inuyasha. Inuyasha, this is Naruto-san, the new wielder of Tessaiga." Said Taishou politely while Inuyasha stared at the blonde who was gaping at him.

"What're you staring at kid? You never seen a Hanyou before or somethin'?" asked Inuyasha with a raised eyebrow.

"W-w-what happened to my sword!" Yelled the blond which caused everyone to wince at the volume of his voice.

"Calm down, its still with you in the real world I'm just the part that's woke up. What it means is that more techniques with the sword are now able for you to start learnin'. It will take time and with me here you can learn the full extent of what Tessaiga can do."

"But then how did you come out during the forest of death?"

"Well when I met you then I was only able to help you since it was a life and death situation. Overall, it was pre-mature awakening and it wasn't intentional so in the end it caused a little delay in the unlocking process. Still, I didn't expect for you ta start training him on how ta use **that **this early pops."

The demon sighed heavily before replying. "I fear that dark times will soon be upon us and I wanted Naruto-san to be as prepared as possible for when that darkness comes, he will be able to confront it."

"Yeah, yeah I get it. But, still I didn't learn this for the longest time and even then I had ta learn it the hard way and almost died in the process."

"I can understand why, since you did not have any assistance on learning how to use it correctly."

"Hold it, what are you two talking about?" Asked Naruto

"It's the next thing you'll be learnin' kid so get used ta me being here 'cause I'm goin' ta be yer new teacher. Now get back to the real world and find someone with demonic energies around them so we can get started on you learnin' this thing."

"How do I find people like that? If you didn't already know, Yokai don't exist in this time and the only thing that counts as demons are the Biju and I highly doubt that a giant Raccoon is sitting ideally in the park."

"Don't be a smart ass or I'll crack yer skull in half!" Shouted Inuyasha while shaking his fist in anger.

"Go ahead and try it you dog eared bastard!" Resorted Naruto while shaking his fist as well.

"Excuse me Naruto-san; might I suggest Miss Nii Yugito?"

"Huh?"

"During her battle, even as I reside here, I was able to feel the presence of demonic energies similar to Kyuubi-dono lingering around her. It may only be a small possibility but it might be the only grasp at what we require for us to continue onwards."

Nodding his head, he looked over towards where Kyuubi and Taishou's huts where before imagining a third one stationed beside Taishou's. Naruto glanced over towards Inuyasha before grinning. "Welcome to my mind. Fix it up as you like and don't screw up my mind too much."

Before Inuyasha could reply he saw that Naruto was already gone, leaving a confused, and thankful half demon standing next to his father and Kyuubi who were both smirking at Naruto's actions.

**Outside World**

Naruto's slitted blue orbs snapped open only to immediately shut them do to the blinding sun's rays. After blinking a few times, his eyes re-adjusted before he re-evaluated where he was. Currently, he was sitting next to the hot spring just as before, the only difference was that Jiraiya wasn't around.

"Old bastard, I told him to wake me in thirty minutes, is that to much to ask for?" grumbled out Naruto before standing and jumping off to find Yugito.

Though he could just run aimlessly around the village, he knew of a more effective way to get information on where certain people were. In fact, the place wasn't too far away from where he was now. After running down a few blocks he stopped in front of a narrow alleyway between two condemned buildings.

Checking to make sure no one was watching him, he slipped in-between the two buildings before coming into a wider alleyway which was almost packed with people ranging from mere children to senior citizens. Naruto let out a small sigh as he prepared to start to ask around when all of a sudden he was tackled to the ground.

"Naruto-nii-san!" yelled a young female voice

"Hello Hitomi-chan." Replied the now smiling blond before turning around to face the child.

Now standing in front of him, was a small girl who looked around seven years old. She had dirty brown hair that stopped just above her shoulders and had violet colored eyes. She was currently wearing a dirty blue long sleeve shirt and equally dirty white shorts along with worn out pair of black sandals. She was currently was grinning happily at him while hopping up and down like a kid that had too much caffeine.

"Yuma-ji-san! Naruto-nii-san is here!" Shouted Hitomi which earned her and Naruto quite a few shocked looks before almost cheering loudly at his return.

"Good to see you boy!"

"Welcome back Naruto-kun!"

"Nii-san's back! Nii-san's back!"

"I thought you'd never get your sorry ass back here. Glad you found the time to do so brat."

Naruto could only laugh sheepishly at the peoples comments. Yes, these people were the reason he never truly hated the village. These people treated him as an equal, not as a demon reborn back when he was younger. To them, he was just another orphaned child living off the trash like the rest of them and was welcomed with opened arms when nobody else wanted him.

And after he had been given a home to live in by the Sandaime, he still found himself here, in the place he truly felt at home with until the day he graduated and had spent less and less time with them. These were the brothers, sisters, Aunts, and Uncles he never had the privilege to have growing up and now that he was back, he found that he had rather missed this place.

Soon, the chatter died down until only the children were the ones pestering the blond and even then he didn't mind. In fact, if he didn't have to search for Yugito, he most likely would have entertained them like he usually did. Sadly he had to tell them that he was busy and that he would have to play another time.

Naruto sighed before creating a _Kage Bunshin_ and giving it the order to _Henge_ into Yugito before asking around to see if anyone has seen where she is staying.

This, was how Naruto had found specific targets with his pranks back in the old days. Most times, at least one of the homeless people in this alleyway had seen his target and since this is where mostly all of the homeless hung out. He could almost always find at least somebody had come across the person he was looking for. All in all, it was a great plan when wanting to find someone in the village since Konoha had plenty of homeless and orphaned running around.

**In the Hospital**

"131, 132, 133, 134, 135." Gasped out Lee as he continued performing his pushups while still in the hospital. He had been told that he would be able to leave the facility in three possibly four days, but Lee couldn't wait that long. He needed to train, he needed to get stronger for the next exam and he was determined to not let his injuries halt his training.

Lee was on his 149th pushup when he heard the sound of the door opening. When he glanced over he practically froze in place at the sight of Kagari in his doorway with raised eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" asked the girl before closing the door to the room. She herself didn't look to good since her right arm was in a cast along with her left leg. Currently she was using a crutch and was sporting some bandages on her forehead along with a swollen upper lip and a black eye.

"I must train for the finals and I cannot let myself just sit still while everyone else is training hard for the finals."

"What about your injuries?"

"My injuries will not damper my flames of youth! I will continue my training regardless of how painful it is."

Kagari just stared at him as he continued his pushups without pause. She would hear the occasional grunt of pain coming from him and was a rather impressed of how far the guy was willing to go despite how injured he was.

"Hey bowl-cut." Said the girl causing Lee to stop and look at her once more. "Why do you do all this? What do you wish to accomplish by doing all this training?"

Lee, was silent for a moment before standing up with a slight hiss of pain. "My dream is to prove to the world that I can be a great ninja without the ability to use Genjutsu or Ninjutsu. That is what drives me to go passed my limitations and drives me to grow stronger. Does that answer your question Kagari-san?"

Kagari only stared at him before sighing and shaking her head while heading towards the door. "Whatever, Lee Just don't kill yourself in the process. Cause one day I want to have a rematch and next time, I will win."

Lee watched as she left his room and was about to begin his exercises once more when he realized something.

"Did she stop calling me bowl-cut?"

**Across the Village**

Naruto looked stared at the room door that supposedly Yugito was staying in. He checked his senses and found that indeed, this is where she was staying since he recognized her sent around this area. Sighing softly, he took a deep breath before knocking on the door.

After waiting a few moments, he knocked again and noted the muffled voice coming from behind the door. A few seconds later, the door slowly cracked opened to show Yugito standing behind the door while rubbing her eyes.

After rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she glanced at the one who disturbed her from her nap to find a familiar cloaked blond standing in front of her. She blinked a few times to make sure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her again.

"You ok Yugito-san?" asked Naruto while tilting his head to the left like a confused puppy.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" asked Yugito while suppressing a yawn.

"Well, I need your help with something."

"Why can't you ask your girlfriend to help you with your training?"

"Because she can't use demonic energies like you can."

In that moment, Yugito was dead silent and was now wide away while glaring holes into Naruto's skull. Soon, he could feel killing intent beginning to leek out of her in large portions.

"How did you come to know that?" she asked with a tone that could freeze hell over.

"I wasn't sure, I just came here to see if you could help me wit-"

"No."

Naruto blinked once, then twice before asking. "Why not?"

"Because anything that leads towards me using Nibi's chakra ends in disaster. I won't be responsible for it and I don't wish to aimlessly use it for your own gain. Hell, I don't even know you and yet you just come up to my door, reveal that I'm a Jinchuuriki and expect me to help you? Well I want to make something very clear to you, I want nothing to do with you and I don't want to see your face around here anymore. Now scram!"

With that said she quickly slammed the door in his face causing him to flinch slightly. Staring back at the door, he could only sigh before pounding his head on the door frame.

"Your not alone you know." Stated the blond swordsman. "In fact, you and I are one in the same."

"I told you to scram! So get going before I fry your ass!" Yelled Yugito from behind the door.

"You were probably alone too when you were growing up. While I had a lot who cared for me you most likely had nobody."

"This is your last chance to leave before I kill you!"

"In fact, we all must be the same, us Jinchuuriki who are stuck to live with a burden from which we didn't ask for. Yes, we must all be the same, alone in a world that fears and hates what it doesn't understand. Yugito-san if you think I'm lying then just say so and I'll leave you in peace."

Now it was completely silent from both parties. Yugito didn't dare speak and Naruto was awaiting her reply which he was sure would come. After waiting for a few moments, Naruto sighed before making his way towards the staircase.

"Guess its time to come up with a plan B." muttered Naruto as he walked.

However, just as he was about to descend the stares, the sound of a door opening made him stop and turn around to see Yugito, staring at him with a sad look in her eyes. The moment the two made eye contact, she turned her head the other way to avoid his gaze.

"Yugito-san, if you don't wish to help me then I won't force you to. The choice is up to you and you alone so are you comfortable with using that power or would you rather not."

Yugito stayed silent for a moment before turning to face him with a soft smile. All he could do was grin in return before making his way towards the stare case while Taishou was giving him instructions for what to do next.

**Hokage's Office**

"So, what do you think of the situation Jiraiya?" asked Sarutobi while exhaling a plum of smoke from his mouth.

"Honestly, Orochimaru is being a little too forward than he usually is. He's either very confident that he will succeed in whatever he's planning or he's just being foolish. Though, I've never known him to act foolish in the past, things change and so do people."

"Agreed, he wouldn't have made a big ruckus during the second exam unless he was up to something. If anything, he would have been as secretive as possible if he was planning an attack against us. As you said, he's either very confident or he's being foolish."

Jiraiya nodded his head before looking over at the pictures of the previous Hokages. His eyes went slightly glazed when he landed on Minato's picture before shaking it off.

"Reminiscing Jiraiya?" asked the elder Hokage sadly.

"…yeah, just miss the brat is all. Hell I met his son just this afternoon while I was doing my research at the hot springs."

"Naruto; what was he doing there?"

The toad sage could only shrug before replying. "Beats me, but he said something about seeing her when I released a seal Orochimaru put on him. Though, I don't know why he said, her but I really didn't think much of it."

This caused Sarutobi to raise an eyebrow at his student's explanation about his encounter with Naruto. What further confused him was that Naruto had another seal on him that he wasn't informed about. Still, whatever it was, Jiraiya had handled it so there wasn't much left to worry about.

"So, have you told him about his old man yet?" asked Jiraiya curiously while glancing back at the picture of his deceased student.

"No." sighed out Sarutobi while bracing himself for what was to come.

"What!"

"Jiraiya, Minato had a lot of enemies back when he was alive. If I had told Naruto of his heritage the information would eventually leak out and those enemies of Minato would have been after his life. I couldn't risk that, not under any circumstances."

"You forget Jiji, you had people like Kakashi that could have kept a close eye on him and if it would have been a problem, I could have taken him with me if you had sent out a message." Snarled out Jiraiya while clinching his fist in anger

"Both reasons were not an option at the time. Kakashi had multiple missions that needed to be done after Kyuubi's attack along with most of the other Anbu and Jounin at the time. You were out of the question too since I needed you to get your own missions done and your spy network needed to be set up at the time. I didn't want to leave you distracted by taking care of Naruto. All I could do was leave him as he was and help him the best I could and keep the council at bay with all their demands for his head."

Jiraiya let his shoulders sag a bit as he sighed. His sensei had a point, after the attack Konoha had been left in a bad situation and his spy network was still in its beginning stages at that point in time. Still, it irked him that Sarutobi was holding information like that from the boy.

"When do you plan to tell him." Asked Jiraiya soberly.

"When he is old enough to take on the burden of what his father left behind."

"He's old enough right now sensei! At least let him know who his father is!"

"Jiraiya-"

"No, I won't listen to that anymore jiji! I've been to every country you can think of and I've seen how bad Jinchuuriki's lives are! Hell most of them aren't even considered human anymore sensei! If the kid can take being a Jinchuuriki and turn out the way he is now then I think he can handle knowing who his parents are."

"And what if he can't handle it Jiraiya? What he can't take what's to come in the future and is unwilling to take it on?" asked Sarutobi while raising his voice at his former student.

"Then I guess he'll have to do what we all did back when we had our own burdens. Take it and move on with life. We all had to, even you did and you still take on the burden of being this village's Hokage even after your resignation. If that boy wants to move forward in life he must be willing to take on multiple burdens just like the rest of us."

Sarutobi sat in his seat speechless at this, and was forced to admit that it was Jiraiya's turn to have a valid point. Everyone had a burden to bare at least once in their lives. From him being Hokage at his age to Hiashi who had to sit by as his twin brother was killed by Kumo. In the end, the aging Hokage took another long drag from his pipe before sighing.

"Jiraiya, just promise me you won't say anything about it for now."

His student only snorted before hopping up onto the window ledge. "I'll keep my mouth shut but if something happens, I won't be tight lipped about it anymore."

Sarutobi only nodded before watching his student dash off the ledge and out of sight before looking over at the Yondaime's picture on the wall with a look of sadness in his eyes.

"Minato-kun, what would you think of me now if you saw what had happened to your son through my actions?" Asked the Hokage aloud knowing that he wouldn't receive an answer.

**Training Ground 72**

Naruto whistled as he looked around the training area. The clearing in which he and Yugito were standing in the middle of was the farthest from the village and was almost completely isolated from the preying eyes of civilians and some ninja alike.

He quickly asked Taishou if the clearing was good enough for what they were about to do and was told that it was good enough.

'So what am I going to learn?'

'**A destructive force so powerful it has the ability to slay one hundred Yokai in one sweep. The very thing that made me feared among the demons of my time, **_**Kaze no Kizu**_**.'**

"Whoa." Gasped out Naruto glancing down at his sword which was still sheathed.

'**Indeed, my son will now be the one who will be surveying the remainder of your training.'**

'That's fine.'

'**Oi brat, ya hear me?'**

'Yeah loud and clear.'

'**Alright now listen up, 'cause I don't want ta repeat myself again. Ta perform the **_**Kaze no Kizu**_** you need ta find the fissure between the collidin' demonic winds of you and yer opposing demon. Once the fissure is found, you swing the sword inta it, which releases the powerful energy wave that will end 100 lives in one strike and thus, the Kaze no Kizu.'**

'Sounds easy enough.' Thought Naruto grimly

'**It does, but in the middle of a battle it might be a different story. Just be grateful you don't have ta learn this while fighting an opponent, otherwise you'd be screwed.' **

'Thanks a lot Inuyasha-_sensei_.' Said Naruto sarcastically.

'**No problem brat.' **Replied Inuyasha with just as much sarcasm.

With that last comment, Naruto came back to earth to see that Yugito was now sitting on the ground with her back on one of the trees while fiddling with a stray leaf from the said tree.

"Ready to get started Yugito-san?" asked Naruto with a big grin on his face.

The fellow blond abruptly snapped her head in his direction before nodding her head and getting back to her feet. Both blondes got a few feet away from each other before Naruto gave her the sign to start using her Biju's chakra.

Nodding, Yugito closed her eyes for a moment before violet chakra began to pour off the Kumo nin in small doses while her features began to rapidly change. Her teeth now resembled fangs and her nails extended into claws while her Teal colored eyes changed to light purple ones with slits for pupils. Overall, Naruto was surprised how similar it was compared to his Hanyou form.

After witnessing the transformation, Naruto swiftly unsheathed his sword before transforming it into its true state while spreading his youki to match with Yugito's demonic chakra.

'Ok, look for the fissure in-between the two clashing demonic winds, easier said than done since you can't really **see** wind.' Thought Naruto dryly as he focused on locating the fissure.

"Hey Naruto, how long do we have to do this for? I can't do this for very long without having do draw out more of Nibi's chakra." stated Yugito while she continued to pour out more and more of her tenant's chakra.

"Just long enough for me to find the fissure where the demonic winds that collide." Replied Naruto while he continued to look for this so called fissure.

"Do what now? You're not making any since right now Naruto."

Naruto didn't bother to answer; he was too busy searching to pay her any attention. After about fifteen minutes, he was starting to see that Nibi's demonic chakra beginning to diminish and was about to stop only to notice a small yellow light in the center of the two energies.

"I see it!" Yelled out Naruto excitedly. "Pour more of Nibi's chakra out!"

"I can't! If I do then I might loose control over myself!" replied the girl as she cut off the demonic chakra before collapsing to her knees while panting.

Naruto too stopped flaring his youki while panting a bit himself before sheathing his sword and walking over towards his fellow Jinchuuriki.

"I guess we can take a break for now. In the mean time, I think we should start training ourselves while we're out here."

Yugito glanced up at him before giving him a feral smirk. "Mind teaching me how to use that whip of yours?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this before shaking his head. "I would, but its apart of my bloodline so even if I told you how to do it, you wouldn't get anything out of it."

All that did was make her pout, rather cutely, before huffing like a child who was denied a piece of candy while muttering things about unfairness and other things.

For the rest of the day, the two blondes split up to began their own training for the final exams in private. By the time both were done, it was dawn and it was time for the two to leave. Before they separated Naruto asked she could help him with his newest attack tomorrow and she agreed but only if they tried it only once a day until the exams.

Now Naruto was heading back to his home, while dreading what would happen upon his return. A part of him was hoping that Haku had forgotten about the events that took place earlier that day, but the rational part of him doubted that she would.

Once he reached his apartment complex he gulped before heading up the steps. Earlier, he was able to sneak in only because he had watched Haku leave before heading up to his room and getting his sword. Now she was home and he couldn't walk up the wall to get to his porch since the moment he focused chakra into his feet, Haku would sense his chakra and he would be caught.

Slowly, he crept up the stares and through the hallways until he was finally on the fourth floor. He let out a sigh of relief before entering his home not noticing that his door, which he had always kept locked, wasn't locked anymore.

Naruto quickly disposed of his cloak and his sandals before heading towards his room to get some extra clothes so that he could take a nice hot shower. When he walked into his room he proceeded to take off his shirt before he heard the door close. He looked over his shoulder and found someone that made his blood turn cold.

There, standing in front of the doorway, was Haku armed with three senbon in each hand with an eerie gleam in her eyes. And all around Konoha, a loud scream could be heard which caused some of the late night wanderers to look around in confusion before continuing on.

* * *

Yeah sorry for the filler and I'm going to be honost, this really didnt take as long as i had thought. It's no wonder why Naruto had so many fillers before the time skip. Cause its so fucking easy to come up with that its almost scary. By the way the virgin joke is just that, a joke so don't expect a lemon in this fic for quite a while. In fact, I don't think I'll do one at all until after the time skip but that's going to be quite a while before I get that far anyway. Oh and be sure to check out my new story Life Lingers After Death. I haven't gotten very far into it yet but I plan to very soon.

Regardless R&R or I'll kidnap you and drag you to a big bad place called Roanapur, give you to my dear friend Balalaika and have her war loving ass torture you. I'll be on break and getting a drink at the Yellow Flag with Revy and Rock.


	12. Changes, Bets, and Drinking

Yo people! I have a feeling someone wants to kick the crap out of me for not updating for such a long time, so I'll be frank with you all. I really have been busy now that I'm a senior at my school, and I wanted to start this year off as good as possible so that I don't almost flunk like last year. But, don't worry for I haven't been just lazing about, for I already have the next chapter ready for release. Thing is though, I want to pre-edit it before I decide to ship it out. So, all I ask for now is to work with me and give me more time for the next chapter. But, that's enough of that, on with the chapter!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking" _Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon speaking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

**_"Speaking" _**Demon Naruto speaking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

It had been three days since Yugito had agreed to help Naruto train in the _Kaze no Kizu_ and it was with a small cheer that Naruto announced that they were making progress. Even though Yugito didn't really get the full concept of doing this with him for three days she was still willing to be happy for their accomplishment.

Today though was a different day for our young hero. The said hero yawned loudly as he got out of bed and made his way towards his bathroom for a shower. After washing himself up, he quickly dried himself off before putting on his standard attire. Glancing at the clock he noted that it had just turned twelve, so he decided to head out early for a walk before meeting up with Yugito.

After grabbing all his things and his cloak he went out while locking his door behind him as he left. After leaving his apartment complex, he made his way towards Ichiraku Ramen while suddenly feeling something odd, something that he really couldn't describe. Shrugging it off as nothing important, he continued on his way until he came to see the stand while also noticing that someone was already eating.

'Who's that?' wondered Naruto as he walked into the small stand.

"Oi, Teuchi-san! Five bowls of pork ramen." Said the boy with a cheeky grin

Said man stuck his head out was about to reply when he stopped and stared the boy. This made Naruto himself raise an eyebrow at the stand owner's reaction since when he usually did this, his ramen would be almost done and in front of him in three minutes flat.

"Have we met before sir?" asked Teuchi while the other occupant in the stand took a glance over as well.

Now he knew something was up and was about to resort when he caught a glance at the person next to him. The person sitting next to him was none other than Temari, who had been staring at him with a raised eyebrow along with a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Why are you looking at me like that for Temari-san?"

Said girl's blush almost vanished as she was now giving him a skeptical look and it was beginning to piss him off.

"Do I know you?" she asked curiously

"That's not funny Temari-san, now quit it."

"Quit what, I don't even know who you are."

"It's me, you know, I fought against that mutt in the Chuunin preliminaries, and threw a rock at make up boy which hit him in the nose."

Realization flashed on the Suna kunoichi's face at that moment before giving him a once over. "Naruto, what the hell did you do?"

Now it was Naruto's turn to be confused as his only reply was a simple. "Huh?"

"Your hair, it's different."

"How's it different; I didn't comb it or anything today all I did was take a shower."

"Then why is it red?"

Naruto blinked once, then twice, before realizing something rather important. He turned towards Teuchi, who had just out from the back of the store and holding a single bowl of ramen in his hands.

"Oji-san, what's today's date?"

"Um, I think it's the 10th sir, why?" answered the man while wondering what it was about.

Naruto on the other hand was almost sweating at that. He glanced down at his hands and attempted to extend his claws only to find that they wouldn't do so. It with that in mind, and the fact that it was the 10th meant one thing.

'It's the day I turn into a human again.'

"Hey you ok?" asked a slightly concerned Temari

Naruto didn't reply, instead he simply nodded before getting off the stool and leaving the stand while ignoring Temari's and Teuchi's concerned looks. It wasn't the fact that he would be vulnerable if something was to happen today that bugged him, it was that he back to being a dobe of the academy since he couldn't use any of his Yokai abilities at all.

Walking towards training area 72, he walked passed a small lake where some of the civilian and ninja population alike came to enjoy some time to relax. He glanced at his reflection in the water and sighed. Currently, his appearance was very different compared to how he looked before he was turned into a Hanyou.

His hair, no longer blond but maroon in color with its length still the same as before. His cheeks were now free from the whiskers like marks while his fangs retracted giving him normal appearance. The most noticeable thing in his opinion was his eyes, which were no longer sapphire blue, but cloudy emerald green with regular round pupils. Even his skin tone, which was rather dark, changed to a semi light tan much to his disliking.

As he continued to study his human form most of the passing females along with some of the kunoichi walking by stole some quick glances at him. When he finally snapped out of his thoughts he found that some of the girls in the lake were staring at him while a few others were calling for him to join them. Laughing sheepishly, the boy only declined politely before heading off towards training area 72.

**Training Area 72**

Yugito sighed as she looked up from her spot on a tree branch. She was bored, and today just didn't feel like a day to be training for her at least. Sure she could just not show up, but she just didn't want to deal with a pissed off Naruto who could blow you to smithereens with a swing of his blade. Yes, he had explained to her what exactly the extent of mastering this could do and after being assured that he wouldn't swing his blade during practice, they had continued albeit a bit more cautiously than before.

Now she was lay there, waiting for something, anything to happen to end her everlasting boredom. And it seemed as though her wish was granted since the very moment that thought entered her mind, a young red-headed boy entered the clearing while panting heavily.

Yugito only blushed at her new guest's arrival. Though, part of her was wandering why he was wearing clothing similar to Naruto's, she quickly dismissed it and went to greet her new guest.

"Yo friend."

"Yo, Yugito-san"

"H-have me met?" was Yugito's reply before watching the red head palm his forehead and groan.

"It's me, Uzumaki Naruto." Answered the boy while rubbing his temples in frustration.

Yugito narrowed her eyes in suspicion before ordering. "Prove it."

"You kicked the crap of an Oto nin because he used a sneak attack on you. That and you contain Nibi and are helping me train in using the _Kaze no Kizu_."

"…Alright you pass."

"Don't worry it's only temporary so you won't expect to see this very often." Responded Naruto.

Yugito slowly nodded before sighing. "So, what do we do now? And what exactly did happen."

Naruto began to scratch the back of his head while chuckling sheepishly. Inside however, he was berating himself for not thinking up an excuse for this predicament. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head and decided that it was worth a try.

"Well, my bloodline is rather…strange. It changes my appearance as you've seen. It also increases my strength, speed, agility, and senses. But the draw back is that on the 10th day of the month my bloodline stays in-activate and thus, what you see before you."

Yugito raised an eyebrow at this explanation and to Naruto, it meant that she didn't by it. To his surprise and satisfaction, that the girl nodded her head in understanding before giving him a concerned look.

"So, does that mean you're weaker for the time being?"

"Well, I guess so; I can't create my whip or transform Tessaiga. So all I got on me is regular Kenjutsu and _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ in my arsenal."

"That sucks!"

"Hey, I do just fine with or without my bloodline thank you very much!"

"Yeah right, and I bet lunch that you wouldn't come close to beating me!"

It was then that Naruto smirked at her before bending his knees slightly while placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Do I hear a bet?"

In response to this, Yugito gave the boy a feral grin before whipping out a kunai and entering a ready stance. "Yeah, and the loser pays full price."

"While the winner must be referred to as senpai from today until the finals."

"Deal!"

With that said both Genin rushed forward with Naruto quickly unsheathing his sword while deflecting Yugito's kunai which she tossed in the beginning. After deflecting the kunai, Naruto grasped the hilt with both his hands before making vertical slice from which Yugito parried with relative ease. Seeing her opening, the blonde sent a swift kick to her opponent's ribs before ducking down a sweeping the red-heads legs out from under him.

Upon hitting the ground, Naruto quickly rolled over to his left to avoid an incoming heal drop from Yugito. Once he was back on his feet, he quickly charged forward with his sword reared back in a horizontal arch. Seeing this, Yugito quickly pulled out another kunai before focusing lightning into the blade. Once both blades clashed, to her surprise, Naruto's blade remained undaunted by the effects of the lightning chakra until she felt Naruto push off her kunai and go skidding back a few feet.

"How'd you do that?"

"What, add lightning to my kunai?" receiving a nod she smirked. "If I feel like it, I'll show you."

"You suck Yugito-_chan_!" Sneered Naruto before performing a cross shape seal. "_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" _

In a poof of smoke, twenty clones appeared in the middle of the clearing all armed with the very same katana. Yugito smirked devilishly before rushing into the crowd of clones while performing a few seals. When she landed in the center of a group of clones, lightning was crackling dangerously around her with her arms crossed in an X like fashion.

"_Raiton: Denpa Dendou Shingainami!"_ Stated the girl before jerking her arms out of it's X like formation while electricity surged thought out the clearing causing multiple clones to disperse. When the smoke cleared, she saw Naruto steadily returning to his feel while using his sword like a cane before re-entering his ready stance.

With a feral smirk still on her face, she quickly rushed forward with great speed before she began to circle around the redhead in a similar manner as Lee did. And all the while, Naruto stood in the center darting his eyes left and right not knowing when Yugito was going to strike. Suddenly Naruto stopped and closed his eyes before letting lose a sigh. After that, he swiftly sheathed his sword while still keeping his hand on the hilt while his eyes remained closed.

The slight shifting of pace and speed alerted him that his opponent had quit circling him and was now prepared to strike. At the last moment, Naruto's emerald green eyes snapped open, whirled around and in a flash of silver, his sword was unsheathed and had stuck down on its target. That was when Naruto saw a sight that made him blush heavily with a bit of blood come oozing out his nose and turn away.

Apparently, Yugito realized what he was doing and managed to stop before the deadly blade had sliced her in half. But in doing so, her shirt had been cut do to the very close call and was now sliced in half. This of coarse gave Naruto a clear look at her bare skin along with her lacy black bra which did little to hide her assets to him.

With a small eep, Yugito covered her upper body with her arms while shooting Naruto a heated glare along with a good dose of killing intent. Though, she knew it wasn't on purpose, it still made her upset that he had come that close to killing her had she not realized what he was up to.

Suddenly, Yugito was struck with an idea for not only revenge but also at winning her bet at the same time. She slowly walked up behind him before snaking her arms around his waist while her hands roamed all around his chest. To add more of an innocent effect to it she rested her chin on his shoulder while leaning her upper body against his back.

"Why are you so embarrassed Naruto-_kun_?" Cooed the girl while pressing her chest onto his back.

She felt the red head stiffen a bit before stuttering out. "Y-y-your shirts cut in half, and I don't want to accidentally look!"

"But what if I want you to look Naru-kun?" whispered the girl before purring softly while nibbling on his earlobe.

Had she been able to look at his face, she would have seen him turn all shades of red before settling on the same color as his hair. It was then that his mind totally shut down and the result ended in him passing out with a severe nose bleed. Yes, it appeared that seduction was the ultimate tool in which to defeat any man and even Naruto was no exception to that rule.

**Not Far Away **

The renowned author Jiraiya couldn't help but giggle perversely while scribbling down on his notebook franticly. It was just perfect in his eyes, the moment, the ideas, the view, perfect! And if he didn't know better, he would say that this was staged by someone.

But, to be honest, Jiraiya had no intention of coming here in the first place. In fact, he had all the research he needed to where he could make a whole book but was sent flying by one of the kunoichi who was in the hot spring. But when he caught sight of the two fighting, he had decided to stay and watch to see what would happen.

'Glad I stayed.' Thought the pervert with a grin. 'I think I got inspiration to my next book right here. Two ninjas from two different villages slowly falling for each other, a relationship born from a simple sparing match which then evolved into a lustful session of passion. I like the sound of it already! Now all I need is a name!'

Before the perverted old man could start putting thought into it he saw that the girl simply lay the boy out before shaking him awake.

**Back with the Two**

Naruto groaned awake to see two teal blue eyes staring down at him. It wasn't until she moved back did he realize that it was Yugito and the moment he saw her smirk, he was already standing up and was a few feet away from her while pointing accusingly at her.

"I won Naruto." stated Yugito with a smirk. "You owe me a lunch."

Naruto would open his mouth only to close it again while still pointing at her. This continued for a few seconds before he finally sighed and slumped his shoulders.

"Yeah, let's go Yugito-san." Grumbled Naruto

"Ahem, I think you meant Yugito-_senpai_, Naruto." Chirped Yugito before latching onto his arm.

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this action before remembering that her shirt was still sliced in half. With a sigh and a blush, he jerked his arm out of her gasp which earned him a heated and hurtful glare. Not noticing the glare he slid off his cloak before walking behind the blond and placing the cloak on her shoulders.

"This cloak is special to me, so please don't get it dirty when we get to the restaurant alright Yugito-senpai." Said a smiling Naruto before walking ahead with his arm extended.

The said girl smiled happily before sticking her arms through the sleeves and adjusting the cloak to hide her assets. Once that was done she re-hooked her arm around Naruto's and rested her head on his shoulder. For Naruto, his smile widened as he had managed to get her more comfortable with his presence.

Sure, it felt wrong to take someone else out when he is officially dating Tenten, but this wasn't a date in his eyes. It was simply paying what he owed and he always prided himself on keeping his word. Still, it didn't make him feel any better since he felt as though he was cheating on his resent girlfriend.

He glanced out of the corner of his eye to see the content look on Yugito's face along with her feral grin. He then decided that he was going to pay Tenten a visit sometime soon and take her out to lunch too since they really hadn't had time to be together since she entered the hospital.

'Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.'

**Unknown Location**

Sasuke panted heavily while sweat dripped down his face. Kakashi had been grilling him into the ground since the day the preliminary rounds were finished and wondered if his sensei secretly enjoyed doing this too him. Currently, Kakashi was standing by a huge bolder with two gaping holes in it while staring intently at Sasuke's exhausted form.

After a few moments he heard his sensei sigh before walking over toward him and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Lets take a break then we'll get back to training."

Nodding, the Uchiha let out am exhausted sigh before collapsing to the ground while laying sprawled out on his back. This training routine that his sensei was giving was indeed helpful, but damn it was tiring to the point that he could almost pass out on his feet. Course, he was determined to beat Gaara after hearing in detail at what his skills were, no matter how limited the information was, he was still going to train as hard as possible to defeat him.

Suddenly, a thought entered his mind and glanced over towards his sensei that now had his nose in his precious book. "Kakashi-sensei, I have a question to ask."

The man didn't even look up from his book. "Let's hear it."

"In all honesty, who's stronger me or Naruto?"

This time, Kakashi actually glanced up from the novel before snapping it shut. He hadn't expected such a question and he wasn't going to be sugarcoating it one bit no matter how much the boy didn't need to hear it.

"My guess is if he really wanted to, yes he could beat you."

Upon hearing this, Sasuke's fist clinched while gritting his teeth in anger. It was just as he thought, even his sensei acknowledged that Naruto was indeed stronger then he was. It infuriated him to no end that someone like Naruto could grow so strong just by have one person help him. Apparently, Kakashi noticed his anger as he gave the lone Uchiha a concerned stare.

"Don't hate Naruto for his improvement, he's always had hidden potential to become strong, just like you do. The difference between both of you is that Naruto doesn't live in the past, but instead moves on despite how bad his life was."

Unfortunately, this did nothing but fuel the fire that was steadily building in the boy's mind. He had enough of hearing the same thing over and over about how bad the blonde's life was and yet it was never really described in any great detail. And so, sitting up quickly he glared at his sensei harshly while subconsciously activating his Sharingan do to his anger and frustrated state.

"Then tell me Kakashi-sensei, what kind of life did he have? He didn't lose everything precious to him by someone who you always looked up too? Because as many times as I hear that he has had a bad past you never really explain how bad it really was." Snarled the boy before standing to his feet.

Kakashi only narrowed his eyes at this action before letting out another sigh while scratching his scalp. He knew Sasuke would ask questions eventually about the blonde's past and part of him wanted to tell him in hopes that Sasuke would understand and sympathies with him.

"Your right Sasuke, he didn't have a family, and he never did lose anyone important to him but he did lose something that is almost as bad. He lost his childhood and in that, he lost the part that is supposed to be full of happy memories. But he was never given that privilege, instead he was shunned by both young and old and was forced to adapt to the harsh world around him which did nothing but hate him for something he had no control over."

After hearing this, Sasuke's eyes widened a bit at this small bit of information. And after putting some thought into it he realized that it was true as he had seen most of the adults either ignore or outright glare loathingly at the blonde whenever he passed them.

"Why?" Was the only thing he could ask his sensei at the moment. What he got though was a simple shrug in response.

"Ask him yourself, not during the finals, but later. Ask him and when you do, don't let be quick to judge cause in doing so, you might just kill the tiny bit of friendship that you two have."

Even though Kakashi wanted to tell him, he knew it wasn't his place to. That place belonged to Naruto, and he was going to keep that in reserve for him until then.

Sasuke however couldn't help but sigh at the last statement. It seemed like he wasn't going to getting anymore answers from his sensei and it also seemed like the only option was to do as his sensei instructed. Though, he never would say it, Kakashi was right, Naruto a friend albeit an annoying one but a friend none the less. On the plus side though, he did find out at least a small bit of the blonde's past, even if the information wasn't much, it was better than nothing.

"Now since we took a longer break than I intended I'm going to be doubling the training regiment for the next hour so start doing laps until I say stop."

Sasuke let out a soft groan as he started running while noticing that his sensei was now back to reading his smut. It was going to be a while before he stopped running and this was only going to get worse as the day went on.

**Restaurant **

Naruto sneezed for third time that day before looking back at the menu for something that he himself could eat. Originally he was going to just pay for her meal but after hearing his stomach growl rather a bit, he decided to just grab a small bite to eat for himself.

Now he was sitting at a small three star place of which made him realize the full extent of what he had agreed to. Glancing over the menu, Yugito was practically drooling at the menu while pointing at random things on it and purring loudly. It was a rather humorous scene to stumble upon had you noticed the downhearted look on Naruto's face as he could already feel his wallet becoming lighter.

The waitress had come and was now taking orders. Naruto had just stuck to what he liked and chose a plate of sushi and rice. For Yugito she ordered fried fish with a side of soup.

"I thought you were getting shrimp?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow

The girl only shrugged and replied. "I changed my mind, that so wrong?"

"No, I was just curious is all."

After sitting in the stall for a few moments in silence, Yugito decided to ask a question that was bugging her for a while now. "Hey, Naruto, what's _he _like?"

"Who, Sasuke?"

"No! I'm talking about, you know, the tenant." Said the girl softly while whispering the last part.

"Oh, she's not bad, she just does rather odd things but she's nice over all."

"She?"

"Yeah, surprise to me as well when I found out. I just hate to see her during that time of the month."

It was at that moment that Yugito, who had taken a sip of her drink at the moment, sprayed it all over the table while trying to surpass the urge to whack the boy in front of her in the head.

"Don't talk about things like that in public baka!" hissed out the girl while glaring at him.

'**Know that I'm going to hurt you…**_**very**_**, badly next time you come here.'** Growled out Kyuubi through the link which caused Naruto to shudder heavily under the mental images that were being sent to him.

"Y-yeah, sorry about that, I don't really get what that is but I won't say anymore about it."

Yugito's glare softened a bit before huffing and turned to look out the window. Naruto himself was now berating himself for his stupidity with women and was now looking down at the table in shame.

The rest of the time they were their, neither spoke to each other since one was afraid of saying something stupid again while the other was still a bit mad at his earlier statement. When the bill came, Naruto wordlessly paid for it and left with Yugito not far behind him.

As the two walked onward neither choused to speak and for a while, neither would look at each other. Just when Naruto was about to end the silence, he was tackled to the ground by a big furry object that was currently…licking him to death.

"What the hell?" asked the boy before taking a closer look at the dog on top of him. "Hey, I remember you, your Hana's dog right?"

The dog only continued licking his face until finally being pried off by Yugito who helped Naruto return to his feet. Kneeling down, he began to pet the dog as he heard the sound of approaching footsteps coming up behind him.

"I'm so sorry sir, I don't know what go into her." Said a familiar Inuzuka while scowling down at her partner.

"Its fine, she was just glad to see me again…I guess." Replied Naruto before getting up and facing Hana.

He smirked inwardly as he noticed her expression when looking at him and knew that if she knew it was him, that her expression would most likely be replaced with a scowl. Though, he wondered what the big deal was with him and his human appearance, he didn't look that different as a human did he?

Hana then noticed something rather odd to him. His facial appearance said that it was indeed a different person, but her nose was telling her that, this boy was actually someone she knew of. Getting closer to his face, she took another sniff before stepping back a bit in shock.

"N-naruto!" Yelled a surprised Hana while pointing accusing finger at him. "What the hell did you do to yourself?"

'Damn it!' thought the boy before preparing to run.

"You're like a completely different person now! Hell if I didn't have my sense of smell I could have sworn you were someone else."

Naruto blinked in confusion at the strange change in attitude that the Inuzuka kunoichi was displaying. Yugito on the other hand, was now hissing softly to herself while clutching onto the cloak in which she was still barrowing.

"A-aren't you still mad at me for the stink bomb incident?"

The chuunin only chuckled lightly before patting the red-head on the shoulder. "Please, that was forever and a half ago. Do you really expect me to hold a stupid grudge forever? Besides, my three dog's like you too much, so if they think you're alright then so do I."

Naruto let a small smirk grace his lips before looking down at the three dogs sitting behind Hana who were all wagging their tail's excitedly at him. "Thanks for vouching for me you three."

In response to this, all three just barked simultaneously before tackling him to the ground once more. Only difference about this time, he had saw it coming and was now laying on his back laughing as the dogs lick away at his face with their tails wagging franticly.

As this scene took place, Hana only smirked down at him before realizing that the girl he had been walking beside was now staring down at Naruto with a small smirk on her face as well. Deciding to be as polite as possible to the foreign shinobi, she stepped forward, with her hand outstretched towards the blond.

"Sorry, I haven't introduced myself. My names Inuzuka Hana, nice to meet you miss-"

"Nii Yugito, likewise." Answered the girl before shaking hands with the girl. Though she might not be happy with Naruto, that didn't mean that she had to be rude to someone he knew…unless it was someone of whom he didn't like.

"So, how did you come to know the red-head on the ground here?" asked the girl while motioning towards Naruto.

"Met him during the chuunin exam's, at first I thought he was not worth talking to but, he proved me wrong and we've been training ever since the preliminaries ended."

"Ah, hey, are you two doing anything today?"

At this Yugito huffed before answering. "Yeah, we were training until we decided to get a bite to eat. Then this baka decided to ruin the mood by saying something inappropriate in public."

Hana blinked in confusion before looking down at Naruto, who's mood now went back to sober. Deciding not to ask anymore about it, Hana turned to face Yugito with a small grin on her face. "Well, if you two don't have plans, do you guys want to hang out at the compound? I aint got no duties today and I really don't want to be stuck at home with just Kiba all day, so what do you say?"

"Sure, just help me up and I'm in." Chirped in Naruto from his spot on the ground. "Besides, I want to rub it in Kiba's face that I beat him in the preliminarily rounds."

Glancing over towards Yugito, the girl pondered it for a moment before nodding her head as well. And after helping the boy up from the ground, the three (minus the dogs) made their way towards the Inuzuka compound while chit chatting all along the way.

On the way to the household, Yugito and Hana actually got along rather well with each other compared to how the Kumo shinobi got along with others. Turned out that both had a few things in common like taking the shinobi career serious but not overly serious to the point that it takes away all the fun and enjoyment from your life. Hana had even stated that she was a veterinarian and that it was most likely the most fulfilling things she had ever chose to do.

Out of all of this, Naruto stayed quiet and listened to the two's conversation while having one of his own with his tenant.

'Hey, Kyuubi-chan?'

He was only met with silence which only made him irritated.

'Kyuubi-chan, I know you can hear me so just answer already.'

Still no answer and Naruto had enough of it.

'Look, I wasn't being serious ok. I'm sorry alright I was just kidding around, nothing more and besides you joke like that around me all the time but I don't go on and get pissy when you do it now do I?'

'**I'm not being pissy here Naruto, I'm just don't feel like talking right now alright!'** snapped Kyuubi before punching one of the trees causing it to come crashing to the ground.

'And the sound of trees falling is supposed to reassure me that you're not pissed huh? Look, I said it once already, I'm. Sorry. How many times do I have to say it before understand that?'

'**I do understand it, but I don't want to talk to you right now! Do **_**you**_** understand that Naruto?'**

'Kyuubi-chan-'

"**Naruto, just don't talk to me for the rest of today alright? Tomorrow this will all be behind us and we can then continue on with the **_**Kaze no Kizu**_** training. But until then, just don't talk to me today!'** with that last statement said, Kyuubi cut off the link and went back in her hut to relax and forget about what Naruto had said.

Naruto sighed which earned him a few looks form both Hana and Yugito before shrugging it off and going back into their conversation about random topics. After talking for a good while, the three finally arrived to the clan household which, ironically, was in an isolated part of the forest with numerous dogs' running around the area.

Once the three made it inside, the three were greeted by Kiba, who was curious at the two new arrivals. When he was told that the red-head was Naruto, Kiba promptly left the house but not before shooting him a rather heated glare along with a growl.

"So, what do you want to do Hana-san?" asked Yugito

The said girl just smirked before walking over towards a cabinet and pulled out a big jug of sake. "Let's drink."

At this, Naruto sunk back a bit and said hesitantly. "B-but we're underage."

"Do you think I care; besides if you can kill at twelve, you can drink at twelve that's my mom's motto. But don't tell Kiba that, kami knows what that boy would do if he was drunk."

"I don't want to know either." Muttered the boy before sighing. "Fine, but knock me out if I do anything stupid."

"With pleasure." Replied Yugito before taking one of the cups that was handed to her.

Taking his own cup, he waited for Hana to fill up his glass before raising it.

"Cheers to youth."

"Cheers!" cheered the other two females before clanking all three cups together and chugging their drinks.

**Five Hours Later**

Inuzuka Tsume sighed as she stood in the doorway that led to the kitchen where three passed out youngsters lay on the floor in her home with empty sake bottles lay scattered around the kitchen. One of which was her own daughter who knew better than to act like this. Though she didn't mind the teens getting a little wasted, she didn't like having strangers passed out on her floor.

She was about to kick to the two other foreign visitors awake when Hana snapped her head up to see her mother looking mildly annoyed.

"'Ello Kaa-san." Slurred Hana before groaning and resting her head on the kitchen counter.

"This was your doing wasn't it?" asked Tsume before rubbing her temples in frustration.

"Yup."

"Well good, cause you're repaying me for drinking up all my Sake."

"That's fine, just 'elp me stand and I'll take care of it."

Sighing once again, Tsume helped her daughter to her feet before nudging the other two awake. Neither of which moved until they were jabbed in the ribs by her foot.

"Ight, ight, I'm up Haku-chan." Grumbled Naruto before blinking a bit do to his still slightly drunken state. "Who're you?"

"The owner of this place, now get going and take your friend with you." Snapped Tsume while nudging the blonde female next to him.

Groaning, he got to his feet before wobbled over towards Yugito and made an attempt to help her up. After many failed attempts and nearly falling over, Tsume finally helped the poor boy by picking up the blonde girl and placing her on his right shoulder while putting her left arm around his neck as he wrapped his right arm around her waist. Once he had her secured onto him, he slowly staggered his way out the door and towards the village while Yugito groaned and stumbled beside him.

As he and Yugito trekked through the village, many of the people around them where giving the pair looks of both confusion and shame, which he had promptly ignored. After walking for a few good fifteen minutes, Yugito was able to wake up to note that she was being carried by someone. Upon closer inspection, she found that it was Naruto and that he was barely awake himself.

"Naruto?" asked the girl while yawning loudly. "How much further are we from your place?"

Naruto stopped for a moment before turning his head to the left to find that he was just about to pass his own apartment complex. "We're already here."

"Good, I'll just stay the night here then."

Not really caring at the moment, Naruto was quick to agree and started making his way towards his home. It was when he reached the stairs did he realize that they were in trouble. And after another few minutes of stumbling up the stairs, he was finally at his door before unlocking and opening the door to his domain.

Still too tired to care at what he was doing, he stumbled towards his room before collapsing onto the bed with Yugito still by his side. It was when he felt her warm breath hit his cheek did he realize just how close the girl was towards his face.

"Yugito-chan." Said the boy which earned him an annoyed grunt. "Move over a bit, you're too close to me."

"Tough shit, cause I aint movin' one inch."

Not in the mood to argue he sighed in annoyance as he sat up, took his cloak off her and tossed it to the floor before placing the covers over the two of them. Had he cared or remembered, he would have noted that she still had on the shirt that was sliced in half during their sparing match earlier that day. But again, the alcohol and the erg to sleep caused his lack of good judgment and thus, took no notice to her visible bust sticking out from the black fabric of her bra.

"Naru-kun." Whispered Yugito softly. "Sorry for being mad at you earlier today."

Sparing the girl a glance, he only grunted before turning over to his side "Whatever."

The girl only smirked a bit before glancing down at herself or more specifically, her attire. Shrugging, she sat up, discarded the now useless shirt to the floor before lying back down and snuggled closer into Naruto's back as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

And as this all went on, two pairs of eyes watched this though the doorway. One was looking rather amused and proud while the other was envious and tad bit jealous. After it was confirmed that the two were asleep, one of the two figures took out a small camera and snapped a few pictures before scurrying out of the house all the while not making a sound.

The other just continued to stare at the two before sighing to herself softly. She glanced out the window to see that the sun was setting and that Naruto's hair was now shifting back into its original blonde as well as the whisker marks began to reappear on his face once more. She smiled softly at his peaceful expression on his face while he slept before cautiously stepping closer towards the bed.

As Haku drew closer, she could hear the boy's soft snoring while also hearing a sound that was similar to purring coming from the other blond. Now she was at his side, as he was near the edge of the bed, before kneeling down and brushing her hand across his whisker marks. She had to suppress a giggle when he pressed his cheek against her hand while smiling a bit in his slumber. Drawing her hand away, she glanced at the doorway to see if Zabuza was still in the house before leaning forward and placing a tender kiss on the boy's lips.

Now some would have written this off as creepy, but to Haku, it was her only way of showing her feelings without it being known. Contrary to popular belief she was a shy individual, albeit not nearly as much as the Hyuuga Heiress used to be, but still it was difficult for her to show any open affection to some people. Reason why was simply because, the only person she ever really cared for was Zabuza, and that made it very hard to adjust to meeting new people along with showing affections towards others..

But to her this was different, because she had never once felt the way she did for anyone except Naruto. Sure she had met several young men in her past that were rather handsome in her opinion. Yet none of them could ever compare to the amount of sheer understanding in which Naruto had displayed to her that faithful day on the bridge.

It was one of the many reason's why she would always find herself in his room at the dead of night, just to leave him a kiss for everything he had done for her. From saving her from his sensei's Raikiri, to letting her and Zabuza live for free in the complex for as long as he had. When her lips parted with his she tenderly brushed her hand across his whiskered cheek one last time before smiling softly at his sleeping and still smiling face.

"Good night Naruto-kun." Whispered the girl before standing up and walking out of the apartment while closing the door behind her.

* * *

_Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_ - Shadow Clone Technique

_Raikiri _- Lightning Edge

_Raiton: Denpa Dendou Shingainami_ - Lightning Release: Spreading Electric Shockwave

Personally, I wasn't so sure about some of the things in this chapter. But, the Naruto and Yugito getting drunk together is actually something that happened to me once when I was younger. I would go into detail about it ...but i don't feel like it. Also, don't give me any crap about Haku being shy, that's the way I can imagen she acted like. And before I go, if anyone hasn't voted on my profile yet, please do so for I'm planning on closing it soon. Well, R&R or I'll...you know what I got a better idea. (Pulls out a TV with a video of a weird puppet on the screen) I wanna play game.


	13. Bad Mornings, Reunions, and Thoughts

Yo, told you I would send this one out sooner! I've kept my word. Anyway, just wanted to say that being a senior sucks sometimes. But, that's not important, what is important is that I have this chapter to give out. But, before I go on with the chapter, I need to say that the next chapter will be the end for the fillers. I think it would be best since too many fillers would just piss people off to much. Oh and before I forget my beta reader has something to say.

Critic's notes: So, today's grammar tip, straight from Strong Bad, in the form of song:

Ohhhh, if you're spelling a possessive, it's just I-T-S--

But if you're spelling a contraction, it's I-T-Apostrophe-S--

...Scalawag!

Thank you, thank you very much! I'm here all week!

Well, thanks for that Critic, now enjoy the next chapter my faithful readers!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking" _Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon speaking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

**_"Speaking" _**Demon Naruto speaking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Yugito yawned loudly as she sat up from the bed. Stretching her limbs, she was about to get up when she realized two things. One, she wasn't in her apartment, and two, she was shirtless and laying next to someone else. So, her course of action was one that any female would do in her position.

She screamed.

Loudly.

"What! What's going on!" shouted a still groggy Naruto as he shot up from under the covers while darting his head left and right.

Upon seeing who exactly was in bed with her, causing her to become angry in less than seven seconds, she had Naruto pinned to the bed with both her hands wrapped around his neck.

"What the hell did you do to me you prick!" yelled the furious blond. "How dare you take advantage of me you son of a-"

Before she could continue her rant, the door to the room busted open to show both Haku and Zabuza standing in the doorway with weapon's drawn. Upon seeing the sight of Yugito throttling Naruto on his own bed, both quickly went over and pried the girl off him. Well, Zabuza did anyway, Haku was busy getting Naruto a few good feet away from the angry blonde.

"Would you calm down girl? You got your pants on, that means he didn't do anything you dumb brat," stated Zabuza while avoiding the some of the frenzied attacks.

His comment seemed to calm her down enough to where she was no longer thrashing around anymore. Her face was still scrunched up in a scowl but she couldn't deny the fact that the man had a point. Feeling a bit embarrassed and exposed she lowered her head and mumbled out an apology and asked to be released.

When he released her, she quietly asked Naruto for a spare shirt before taking it and heading towards the door while putting the garment on in the process.

"Naruto-kun, we'll practice the _Kaze no Kizu_ tomorrow, okay?"

Confused as to her bizarre change in behavior, he only nodded in response before watching her leave his room and walk out the front door. Once she was gone he turned his attention back towards Haku and Zabuza who were now staring at the door with the same confused look on their faces.

"What do you think is eating her?" asked Naruto as he proceeded to grab his cloak and shoes.

"Beats me, I think she's just embarrassed is all," replied Haku as she finished zipping up her Chuunin vest.

"I can understand why," mumbled Naruto before noticing Haku's state of dress. "Where are you going Haku-chan?"

Blinking a few times, she chuckled a bit before scratching the back of her head sheepishly. "I have a meeting to go to at the Hokage tower about the finals. I was just about to head out when we heard the scream and came up here."

Naruto was about to ask more when he heard the sound of light tapping coming from his left. When he glanced towards his window he was surprised to see Lee on the window ledge looking as though he was never injured.

"Lee! Good to see you," greeted Naruto as he opened the window to let the boy in.

"It is also nice to see you as well my hip rival! So how has your training for the finals doing my youthful comrade?" asked the boy.

"Well…ain't tellin'. After all, I got some secrets I got to keep for myself you know."

"Hai, I must agree with you there my youthful friend. However, I did not come here to discuss training regiments for the finals."

This bit of news made Naruto raise an eyebrow since, as far as he knew, it was either training or flames of youth that the boy talked about. If Lee was here for a reason other than that, then it must mean that he really needed to talk to somebody or that something bad has happened.

"Well, you know me Lee, I'm all ears my youthful friend," stated Naruto, while cursing him and Gai for getting the youthful part stuck in his head.

"W-well, I have a come here to ask you how do I deal with the opposite sex following me."

"What?"

"It's the girl I had defeated in the preliminaries, Kagari, she will not stop following me. I have even asked her to stop and yet she continues to do so. I highly doubt she is one of those 'fan-girls' that I have heard about but she is starting to concern me a bit. Naruto-san, could you please lend me your advice as to dealing with this problem?"

It took two minutes for Naruto to come back to his senses and the moment he did, he burst out laughing. Haku, who was still in the room, also started to giggle a bit at Lee's deflated look. After calming down enough to talk Naruto finally got a hold of himself and patted his friend's shoulder a few times.

"Lee, don't worry about it too much. Just ask her out to lunch or something and if she declines then she will most likely leave you alone."

"What if she accepts?"

"Then enjoy yourself and don't talk about youth at all during the meal."

"Yosh! Thank you Naruto-san! I will go and find her right now and ask her!"

"No Lee! Wait for her to start following you and then ask her. It saves you time and it lets you train during the waiting period."

Nodding his head he waved two both occupants in the room before zipping out the window and towards the training ground that Gai had instructed him to go to. Once the green clad boy was out of Naruto and Haku's line of vision, the said girl turned her attention onto Naruto with a confused expression on her face.

"Did you just do a match-maker by accident or on purpose?"

Naruto grinned widely before snickering a bit to her question. "Hmmm… only time will tell, now won't it?"

Haku only smiled a bit before her eyes widened and she glanced at the clock. "Shoot, I'm going to be late! I only have seven minutes to get there at its almost a fifteen minute run from here to there at my top speed."

Naruto glanced at the clock as well and saw that she was right. He watched as Haku prepared to leap out the window when he was stuck with an idea. He quickly picked up bridal style before leaping out the window while transforming into his Hanyou form.

Confused and quite embarrassed, Haku glanced up at Naruto as his features began to change and asked. "W-what are you doing Naruto?"

The said boy quickly glanced down at her for a moment and grinned before turning his attention back to where he was going. _**"What's it look like? I'm much faster than you are with my Han- uh Bloodline limit active so I decided to give you a lift."**_

Haku noticed that slight slip-up that the boy made but decided not to comment. Instead, she chose to relax a bit and nuzzle her head into his chest to get more comfortable… and to get closer to him of course.

Naruto only smirked at her actions while he continued to speed down the road as people shouted and jumped out his way as he went. He spotted the Hokage tower and started to slow down which caused Haku to come out of her short very short daydream and frown a bit.

'I was enjoying that ride,' thought Haku bitterly while resisting the urge to pout.

When Naruto finally slowed down to a sprint some of the Shinobi around the area glanced at the pair oddly while others commented of how cute the two looked. Needless to say, Naruto's face now matched the color of his cloak and Haku was in the same position.

Once his sprint wound down to a walk, he eased Haku onto the ground. She quickly readjusted her clothes and her Chuunin vest before turning back to Naruto and smiling sweetly at him.

"Thank you for the escort, Naruto," thanked the girl as she took a small bow.

Naruto chuckled sheepishly while waving his hand in front of him. _**"Eh, he he, anytime Haku-chan. You don't need to bow though."**_

The girl just giggled a bit before giving him a polite wave and turning to enter the building. Naruto only gave a small wave back before sighing and dashing off towards the training area 72.

**Unknown Location**

"What do you mean I'm not needed!" shouted Kankuro angrily as he bashed his hand onto the table.

At the moment, he, Gaara, and Temari were being briefed on the invasion that was going to commence during the finals. Well, to be specific, Gaara and Temari were being briefed. His sensei, Baki, had just stated that he had no use for the puppeteer.

Baki narrowed his eyes at the young puppet master before stating. "The Kazekage had stated that he had no use for weak Shinobi in his force. He stated that you will be returning back to Suna before the invasion to teach you a lesion and will be his escort to Konoha before returning back to Suna while the invasion takes place."

Upon hearing this both Kankuro and Temari flinched at how their father was dealing with his defeat. Kankuro clenched his fist in anger and frustration before finally turning around to exit the room while grabbing Karasu.

"Where are you going?" asked Baki.

"Out," growled out Kankuro as be placed Karasu on his back.

"Fine, you are to report back here in four hours for your return trip to Suna," ordered Baki as he turned to face Gaara and Temari.

Kankuro stopped moving with the door half opened before glancing over his shoulder towards his sensei. Turning away, he readjusted his hold on Karasu's straps before walking out and slamming the sliding door shut.

**Training Area 72**

Naruto grinned as he stared at the tree that he had been practicing on for the passed four days. Reason for him grinning was because instead of a shallow lash across the bark, it now had a deep gash that stopped just enough to where the tree wouldn't fall if someone leaned on it.

"Awesome, I guess my youki training is starting to pay off. Now, lets see how I much it takes for it to be non-lethal," said the boy as he concentrated a bit of his youki into his two fingers once more.

Once the whip was extended enough, he lashed it out a few times and found that the gashes were about the same as his previous one. Cutting down the youki a bit, he lashed it out again and saw that it was still too much. Just when he was about to try again he felt two hands cover up his eyes.

"Guess who?" asked a familiar female voice in a singsong tone.

Naruto smirked as he pretended to think about it while cutting the flow of youki in his fingers. After a few moments, he swiftly turned around and picked up the girl by her waist and lifting her into the air.

"Is it Tenten?" asked Naruto with a smirk.

The said girl just pouted before replying. "You cheated."

"I didn't know the rules," said the boy innocently.

Tenten continued to pout for a few moments before breaking out into a smile. Seeing this, Naruto placed her down on the ground only to be tackled to the ground by the said girl while her lips met his own in a deep kiss.

After a few moments, the two broke apart while blushing a bit. After all, neither had done this much and they hadn't even really started dating until they kissed during the Forest of Death. Still, both enjoyed it and to them, that's all that mattered, embarrassment be damned.

"I missed you, Naru-kun," cooed Tenten as she lied on his chest while her hand stroked his three whisker-like marks.

"I missed you too, Ten-chan," replied Naruto before wrapping his arm around her midsection.

Both stayed in that position for a while, not at all noticing that a pair of eyes was watching them from one of the nearby trees with a bit of jealously.

'What does he see that damn tomboy!' raged the young female as she eyed Tenten in envy and jealousy. 'Fine then, I'll just have to show him how much better I am of a choice than she is.'

With that thought in mind, the girl quietly leapt away while plotting ways to make the red clad boy hers. Back with Tenten and Naruto, both suddenly felt a small chill go up their spines causing both to shudder a bit.

'What was that about?' thought Naruto before shrugging it off as unimportant.

"So, Naru-kun, how has your kenjutsu training been coming along?" asked Tenten as she got off the blonde and sat beside him on the grass.

"Well, it's still on par with some other people, but, I still don't think I'm improving at all. But, I am starting to master a technique that will literally blow you away."

"Mind if I see it?"

At that Naruto shook his head in reply. "Three reasons why I can't: One, I still haven't mastered it so I don't want to mess up and injure both of us. Two, I don't want to reveal it before the finals are over with. Finally, I don't want to demolish this training field, I like it too much."

Tenten only sighed before nodding her head in content with his statements. Though she doubted the last one, the other two were understandable so she didn't protest to his choice. The girl sighed again before hoisting herself up before digging into her pouch and whipping out her scroll that sealed her sword in it.

Seeing this, Naruto also got to his feet before grabbing the hilt of his sword in preparation for the unspoken challenge. In a poof of smoke, Tenten's red Katana was held firmly in her hands with her gripping the hilt tightly.

"Just so you know, Naruto-kun, I don't have my weights on so you might not want to hold back, because I won't be," stated Tenten as she swiftly unsheathed her katana and entered her ready stance.

"Don't worry, I won't," replied Naruto as he let go of his hilt and quickly took off his cloak and placed it on the side of the tree. Once off, he returned to his ready stance while staring back at Tenten's dark brown eyes.

Neither moved as they stared off at each other as the wind picked up a bit causing some of the leaves in the trees to start falling. Slowly, one leaf floated down in-between the two, causing the two to break their stare.

And in that moment, both Naruto and Tenten came flying towards each other, one going for a horizontal strike, the other going for a vertical. Both blades connected midway which caused some sparks to fly off the two blades. The two struggled for a moment before jumping back. Naruto rushed forwards, his sword reared back for another vertical and swung, only for Tenten to duck under it and sent a diagonal slice to his chest.

Jumping back, he smirked a bit, only to notice that his shirt had been slashed. Glancing back at Tenten, he saw that she had a triumphant smirk on her face as she eyed the slash mark. Deciding to stop playing around, Naruto sped forward, faster than Tenten could have followed, before skidding to a stop behind the rather startled girl.

A few seconds passed and nothing happened, Tenten was about to comment when she felt her two buns fall. Glancing back, Naruto saw that, surprisingly, her hair was rather long when it wasn't bound since it stopped just above her shoulders.

Turning to face the blond, Tenten readied her blade once more while Naruto did the same. Both raced forwards at great speeds before clashing their two swords together midway. Both pushed away from the other before slashing again causing the same process to repeat over and over again.

Tenten ducked under the vertical strike before sending a kick to the boy's ribs. Naruto winced slightly when the kick connected but nevertheless wrapped his arm around it before swinging downward on his opponent. He was shocked when it connected but sighed in relief when she puffed into smoke to reveal that he had just sliced a log.

Sensing a presence behind him, he quickly turned around to back the incoming strike coming from the young swordswoman. After struggling for a few moments, he managed to slide her off his sword to his left causing her to stumble a bit as she tried to regain her balance. Seeing his opening, Naruto quickly kicked her in the back of the legs, causing her to fall to her knees before grabbing the back of her head and pulling it back while he placed his face at her throat with his fangs extended, preparing to rip her throat out.

Tenten panted as she stared down at Naruto who had his fangs at her throat. She wasn't sure of what he was doing but one thing she knew for sure was that those fangs were sharp, and she didn't want to find out if they were capable of ripping out someone's throat.

"Alright Naruto-kun," said Tenten in between pants. "I concede."

From his position, he smirked before pulling away. He watched as Tenten gripped her chest with one hand as though she was having a heart attack while her other hand rubbed her throat where Naruto had just pulled away from.

"Sorry about that Ten-chan," said Naruto sheepishly. "I guess I just got caught up in the battle that I just did that on instinct."

Tenten breathed heavily for a few more moments before looking back up at Naruto with a small smile on her face. She knew Naruto wouldn't hurt her intentionally and even as they sparred she could still tell he was holding back, not because she was a girl like most others would have, but because he cared for her, and it had always been that way with them.

"Its ok, Naru-kun. But I must say you really have improved since last time. Though I wish you didn't cut my buns off."

"Why? I think you look better with them off," stated Naruto.

"Y-you think so?"

"Of course, it doesn't hurt to have them down from time to time, but if you must, put it in a pony tail or something."

"I guess I could do that," mused the girl before she thought of something. "Naru-kun, why haven't you done anything to your hair yet?"

Naruto blinked a few times before shrugging. "Bah, I like my hair the way it is. Besides, I think Haku-chan likes it this way too."

"Haku-chan?" asked Tenten.

"Yeah, she and Zabuza are the two that live in my apartment complex, remember?"

It took her a few moments but, eventually, her memory of the dark haired girl at the preliminaries came to mind and she frowned a bit.

"Anyway, do you want to get something to eat Ten-chan?"

Nodding, Tenten grabbed her sword and sheath before sealing back into its scroll. Once done, she gratefully took Naruto's hand as he hoisted her up off the ground. After brushing herself off, she took hold of Naruto's hand before walking beside him as the two left the clearing.

As the two walked, Tenten was informed of Lee's little problem and couldn't help but laugh for a good minute or two. Once she calmed down, she stated that it was nice that Lee had someone interested in him, and that hopefully, he would get out of his youth rants. As they approached Ichiraku Ramen, Tenten asked if anything else had happened during the past four days.

"Naruto-san!" greeted Teuchi as he waved the couple in.

"Yo, Teuchi-san. Three bowls of pork ramen please."

"One beef for me thank you."

"Coming right up!" replied the man as he went to work on the orders.

After a few minutes of waiting, both received their meals and began eating. As they ate, Naruto asked her about seeing someone better at kenjutsu. He deflated a bit when she couldn't think of anyone else who could help him in that area since, as far as she knew, him and her were the only two swordsmen in this village. Though she did suggest Zabuza, that idea was quickly shot down when he told her about his house arrest which was still in effect for the next seventeen days leaving only one week before the finals started.

When the two had finally finished their meals, Naruto paid Teuchi while also leaving a generous tip for him and his daughter. As the two were about to leave a familiar old man popped into the stall with a tired expression on his face.

"Yuma-san?" asked Naruto with a raised eyebrow.

The said man snapped his head in Naruto's direction before grinning at the boy. "Well, well look what we have here. I knew you came here a lot but I didn't think you had a lady friend with you as well."

Naruto chuckled a bit before wrapping his arm around Tenten's midsection. "Yuma, this is Tenten, my friend who's been training with me for a long time. Tenten, this is Yuma, one of my friends since I was little."

"Nice to meet you young lady," said the man before bringing his hand out for her to shake.

"Likewise, Yuma-san," replied Tenten before hesitantly shaking the man's hand.

"So, Yuma-san, what brings you here, and why do you look so tired?" asked the boy in concern.

"Hitomi went chasing after some kid with goggles on his head. I don't know what the kid did but it only means that I have to go chasing after her to keep her from beating the poor kid senseless. I came in here to see if anyone as seen them while also hoping to get something to eat myself."

"You got money?"

"Do you?"

"Damn old man," muttered the boy before scrounging in his pockets and handing the old man enough for two bowls. The old man stared at the money for a moment before grinning back at the blond boy.

"Aw, you really do care, giving me enough for two bowls instead of one."

"The other is for Hitomi if you ever catch her," replied the boy dryly.

Yuma cursed under his breath as he walked towards the counter. He was about to order when the sound of someone screaming filled the air. Sighing, the old man whirled around and sped off towards the sound of the scream while kicking up dust as he ran. Needless to say both Naruto and Tenten were surprised by the old mans speed.

"He's fast for an old fella, ain't he?" joked Naruto while glancing back at Tenten who was still watching the dust cloud fade off into the distance.

"I'll say," muttered the girl before turning towards Naruto. "Are you going to be training tomorrow?"

"More than likely," admitted the boy.

In all honesty, he wasn't sure, since he had a slight doubt that Yugito would show up tomorrow due to the earlier events this morning. He was about to ask her the same question when something occurred to him.

"Hey, where's my cloak?"

Blinking, Tenten thought about it for a moment before answering. "I think you left it at the training field."

"Shit, I got to get that before somebody steals it."

"Well, in that case, I'll see you sometime before the finals start. I have my own training that needs to get done before then and after seeing how good you've gotten, it means I got to work harder."

"I guess I'll see you sometime soon."

"Yeah, but don't worry, I'll check up on you soon," as she said this, she walked up to him before planting a kiss on his lips which he returned.

After receiving his goodbye kiss, the girl waved to him as he dashed off towards the training area in which he had just left. Had he looked over his shoulder, he would have seen Ayame glaring at Tenten's retreating back while her father backed away from his seething daughter.

After running for a total of five minutes, he finally arrived at the training area before beginning his search for the missing cloak It didn't take him long to find it and once he placed it on he noticed something… odd with it.

Pulling the sleeve up to his nose, he sniffed it a few times before pulling it away with a curious expression on his face.

'Smells like… dogs,' thought Naruto before shrugging.

He stared out into the meadow around him and sighed contently. Figuring now would be a good time to visit Taishou and the others, Naruto eased himself down on the side of a nearby tree before settling into a meditative trance and entering his mind.

**Mindscape**

Naruto opened his eyes and let out a sigh as he got up from his spot at the grassy clearing. He made a mental note to create a new beacon to spawn from that was closer to the huts. As he walked, he took notice to the fact that it was almost dawn in this place which seemed odd to him since, last he checked, it was only two in the afternoon.

Upon arriving to the huts, he found that no activity was taking place. Though he could see smoke coming out of Taishou's hut, he saw no activity coming from either Inuyasha or Kyuubi's huts at all.

Shrugging, Naruto walked towards Taishou's hut and entered to see the dog demon, sipping tea calmly. Feeling a presence, the demon turned to see Naruto grinning at him.

"Yo, Taishou-san," greeted the boy.

"Greetings Naruto-san," replied Taishou politely. "May I ask the reason for your visit?"

"I just figured I'd drop in and say hello and see how you all are doing."

"I see," mumbled the man while taking another sip of his tea. "Well, you might wish to greet Kyuubi-dono before she goes to sleep. She had just informed me that she was retreating to bed early today and my son is wandering around your mind."

"Why's he doing that?"

"Being contained was something he had never enjoyed. He would much rather journey out similar to when he was alive and searching for demons to battle. It seems even after all this time he has yet to change from his old ways."

"Well shit, guess I'll just say hello to Kyuubi before I take my leave," muttered the blond as he walked towards the exit. "Oh, by the way, I think I've almost mastered the youki whip. All I got to do now is get it to cut through trees and be able to use it without cutting people to bits and I'm done."

Taishou smirked at that as he watched Naruto grin proudly before nodding at the boy. The young hanyou's grin widened before he disappeared out of the home while Taishou took another sip of his tea with a small smile on his face.

'I'm glad that you found my sword young one. For I cannot see anyone more worthy of it than you,' thought the demon proudly before finishing his tea.

Meanwhile, with Naruto, the said boy was now standing at Kyuubi's doorstep while knocking on her door a few times. After receiving no response, he slowly opened the door and entered her home. After he entered the home he quietly closed the door behind him before checking around the home.

"Kyuubi." said the boy while searching around. "You home?"

Still no response, and as he entered a random room, he found out why. The said vixen was sound asleep on her bed while her dark red sheets wrapped around her body with the exception of her right leg with her bare foot hanging over the edge of the bed and her left arm.

Naruto smiled softly at the sleeping demon now breathing softly as she snuggled closer to her light red pillow. Glancing around, he found many pictures decorating the walls along with one of her and Taishou standing in front of the two huts. He noted that a similar picture was placed beside it only with it being Inuyasha added to the picture.

Glancing back at the sleeping demon, he was about to leave when he noticed that Kyuubi was holding something in her sleep. Taking a closer look, he found that it was the back of a picture that she held closely to her chest. Seeing this, he went to grab it only to stop just as his fingers were about to brush up against the corner of it before pulling his hand away.

'Whatever that picture is, must be something precious to her,' thought the boy as he made his way out of her room. 'The least I can do is mind my own business.'

As he walked out of the home, he glanced back at the hut as he felt himself fade back into the real world. When he finally disappeared from his mind, Kyuubi slowly opened the door while still holding the picture in hand. Glancing down at it she couldn't help but feel tears start falling down her cheeks as she stared at the picture of Naruto holding Tenten in the air by her waist while the said girl was smiling happily in his arms.

'**How I wish I could be in your place girl,'** thought Kyuubi bitterly. **'But all I can do is watch and dream for something that can never be granted. For I dwell in his mind, and only his mind…and never into the realm of the living ever again.'**

**Real world**

When Naruto reawakened he was greeted by the sight of a dog with its face only inches away from his. Startled, Naruto jumped back while the dog did the same only with its tail wagging.

"Don't do that!" shouted the blond as he still hung from side of the tree.

The dog lowered its head in shame only to perk up at the sound of laughing. Turning, Naruto saw the familiar form of Kiba with his dog Akamaru sitting on his head with his tail wagging as well.

After calming down a bit, the boy quickly whipped a small tear from the corner of his eye and glanced at the snarling blond.

"What's so funny mutt?"

"Just the fact that you shot up like a terrified cat is all," answered the boy with a grin.

Snarling, the blond got off the tree before looking over the dog that was now sitting beside him. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was one of Hana's dogs. Though, he couldn't distinguish which one it was by name, he at least knew that it was one he remembered and that this was the one that always pounced on him whenever they ran into each other.

"What are you doing with one of Hana's dogs?" asked Naruto while petting the said canine's head.

Scoffing, the boy crossed his arms before saying. "Lazy bitch said she had things to do and asked me to take her out for a walk around the village. I think she just wanted to get me out of the house for some reason."

Chuckling, Naruto ceased petting the dog before preparing to leave when he felt a hand grip his wrist. Turning around, he saw that Kiba was giving him a serious look on his face while tightening the grip on his wrist.

"I want to know something Naruto," said Kiba calmly. "I want to know… why didn't you join our clan when my mother invited you?"

Raising his eyebrow, Naruto jerked his hand free before replying. "I have my reasons."

"Enlighten me then Naruto."

"No."

"Don't be selfish man! I just want to know why my mom was so intent of you joining us. I know for a fact that you never had the chance to know what a family is like and you have a chance with us yet you refuse! I just want to know why, why do you not want to be a part of us?"

"Kiba!" yelled the boy angrily while subconsciously releasing some of his youki. "I never hated you, despite after all the things you said in the past. Don't give me a reason to start now. I have my reasons for why I declined and those reasons are mine alone. So please… just mind your own business alright!"

The boy didn't even wait for a reply, as the moment he was finished, he sped off while kicking up dust in the process. Even when he returned to the village, he didn't stop. He just kept running, albeit, a tad slower than before. After doing this for what felt like hours, he found himself near the Hokage Monument.

A few minutes later, he was sitting on top of Yondaime's head while overlooking the village with glazed over eyes. He always loved the view from this place and despite all the places he had gone to he would forever love the spot atop of the Yondaime's head. Reason why was because it was the only place people couldn't get to and nobody would ever see him. He liked the piece that sometimes came with solitude and to him, this was his heaven away from the scorn that always surrounded him.

"Nice view, isn't it?" said a voice from behind him.

Naruto didn't even need to look behind him to know who the voice belonged to. "Yeah, even when I was young I loved this spot. Though I had to take the long way, it was always worth it in the end."

Jiraiya smirked before walking beside the blond as he stared out into the vast buildings and trees around Konoha. Such a sight was something rare in Shinobi villages as, from what he could remember, most other places were dull or just not good to look at. It was amazing to him and Naruto that they were able to view this fine village that blended with the nature around it.

Glancing over at Naruto, Jiraiya had to hold back a smirk at the look on Naruto's face. It was the look of contentment and peace that reminded him so much of Minato when both came up here to overlook the village.

"He would be proud of you, Naruto," said Jiraiya suddenly. "Your father I mean."

Naruto sighed at that before glancing at the man. "No, he probably would be ashamed of me."

"Why? If you were my son, I would be kicking people's asses who said otherwise."

"No, you wouldn't if you knew what I am."

"A Jinchuuriki? So what if you hold a demon it doesn't make yo-"

"I am a demon old man," stated the boy coldly while his bangs overshadowed his eyes. "A Hanyou to be exact."

This bit of information caused two reactions out of him. One, was the widening of his eyes and two, was the clinching of his fists. In less than a second, he socked the unsuspecting boy with a powerful right hook to his jaw. After skipping along the ground a few times, he finally came to a skidding stop while staring wide-eyed at the ground.

Glancing up he found that Jiraiya was now crouched down in front of him before feeling a hand grab the collar of his shirt and lift him two feet off the ground by the man who looked enraged at him.

'I knew it,' thought the boy bitterly. 'He turned out just as I expected.'

"Don't you ever say that again you little brat!" yelled the man while staring heatedly at Naruto's surprised form. "Your father loved you more than anything else in this world! If he found out you were a demon he would probably just laugh and continue loving you as though nothing happened! So don't you dare think for even a second that Minato was like those fools who cannot see the difference between a demon and a child!"

Needless to say, Naruto was floored with what the sage was telling him. He was positive that the reaction he would get from him would be hateful since he doubted that a man who he had only met once would be sentimental towards him. Yet, for someone who had only met with him once to actually not care about his demonic blood made him feel a great deal of happiness which he had only felt when he met Tenten.

Jiraiya's heated gaze ceased when he saw the small smile appearing on the boy's face. Seeing this he set the boy down back onto the ground before staring down at him as he waited for the boy to say something.

After a moment of silence, the boy stared back up at him with a smile on his face before saying. "Thanks for the punch, I needed that."

Jiraiya grinned at that as he replied. "Anytime."

"So, what now?"

"Don't know, maybe I'll go gather some research for my next book. Or maybe I'll just lounge around for awhile. Either way, I'm content for right now."

Chuckling, Naruto turned back to stare out the distance once more as the wind began to blow causing some of his hair to flutter in the cooling breeze.

"I'm a leaf in the wind," muttered Naruto which caused Jiraiya to turn towards him in confusion. "Watch me soar."

Jiraiya grinned at that as he too stared out into the distance. 'That has a nice ring to it, doesn't it Minato?'

Almost as if in response, the wind blew once more as the two figures stood atop of the Hokage monument. Jiraiya turned to face Naruto once more before noticing something. It was like his eyes were playing ticks on him because he could have sworn he saw the transparent figure of Minato standing beside his son with his hand on his shoulder smiling down at the village below them.

And almost as soon as he saw this, it was gone with a blinking Jiraiya staring dumbly in Naruto's direction. Feeling his stare, Naruto turned to face him with one of his eyebrows raised.

"What?" asked the boy.

"N-nothing, just thinking is all."

* * *

Well, another chapter done, and another (insert number) to go. Well, did what I intened to do with this chapter and I hope you all are happy with Tenten returning to the picture. For the record, I fell in love with my own ending to this chapter since you see it in movies and in Manga a lot, I just had to do it myself. Can you really blame me? Didn't think so. Anyway, if anyone can figure out where I the line, "I'm a leaf in the wind, watch me soar." you get a cookie and a handshake from me. Well, R&R or face the rath of Jigsaw's newest apprentice! MWAHAHAHA


	14. Arrivals and the Beginning of the Finals

Yo all! I'm happy you all enjoyed my last chapter and as I said last time, this is my last filler for this arc. Be my next chapter will be out shortly after this one though I'm not positive of the exact date in which I will bring out the next chapter. Oh and to all who got the the quote I put in my last chapter right, COOKIES FOR ALL OF YOU! But, enough of that on with the chapter!

Speaking" Normal

Speaking'Thinking

_"Speaking' _Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon speaking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

**_"Speaking" _**Demon Naruto speaking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Sarutobi sighed as he surveyed the two carriages that entered through the front gates of his village. It was normal for allied Kages to attend their own allies' Chuunin finals, especially if some of their own ninja had been able to partake in the said event. It was rather surprising to say the least when the Raikage had asked if he could also attend the finals with them.

And by all means, Sarutobi had all rights to say no, after all they weren't even allies, in fact they were one of Konoha's greatest enemies. Yet, Sarutobi didn't deny the man. Some would have called him a fool for being so trusting towards their sworn enemy's most powerful ninja among Kumo to sit beside him. But to Sarutobi, it didn't matter, all that mattered was that, as long as they were in _his_ village, and under _his_ watch he could rightfully assume that someone in Konoha could and more than likely would kill the man should he successfully kill him before hand.

As the two carriages slowly headed towards the arena for the Chuunin Finals to take place, he couldn't help but wonder what had become of his favorite blonde haired trouble maker. He hadn't seen him anywhere around the village during the one month preparation for the finals. Of course he had expected this, what he didn't expect was for Jiraiya and him to hold several conversations with each other. It somewhat worried him when Jiraiya had told him about what the blond and him had talked about during their time on the monument.

'Seems like I did screw up,' thought Sarutobi before taking a drag from his pipe. 'But, I cannot undo what has already been done. All I can do is just watch and see what unfolds for him now.'

Though he hated to think about it, he couldn't help but wonder what Naruto's life would have been like had he known about his father. Almost instantly, an image of an arrogant blond young man sitting in the back of the classroom of the academy with a cold stare and a look of seriousness etched on his face appeared in the old Hokage's mind. Sarutobi had to do his best not to shudder at the mental image of a serious Naruto such as what he saw.

Sure, he wouldn't have had as rough a childhood as he did but he just felt that Naruto wouldn't be the same as he was now. It would be as though Naruto was a completely different person, and would devoid of all the major qualities that made Naruto who he was today. In the end, he mused that keeping the child's heritage was in fact the best choice he made. fter all, he had quite enough of the serious to the letter type of ninjas around his village. With Naruto at least he got a good laugh at his antics back in the day. Before he could muse more on the subject concerning the blond, he heard a knock on his office door.

"Enter," said Sarutobi loudly while adjusting his hat to shade his eyes.

Not long after hearing the response, the door opened to reveal a dark skinned man wearing the white Kage robs and hat stood directly in his doorway. After stepping into the office, he silently closed the door before taking off his hat to show a man with white hair and eyebrows along with a pointed goatee.

"Hokage-dono," greeted the man in a gruff and serious tone.

"Raikage-dono," replied the elderly Hokage politely. "Would you like to take a seat?"

"I'm quite fine standing thank you."

"I understand Raikage-dono, but may inquire why you are here when your carriage is on its way to the stadium without you?"

"My decoy is taking my place for the time being. Too many people hate us in this village, so I had to take all the necessary precautions just to be safe. You understand correct Hokage-dono?"

"Completely," the old man sighed, before taking another puff of his pipe. "Is that the only reason you came here Raikage-dono?"

"No. I came here because I caught wind of some rather…disturbing news that I thought you should know."

This made Sarutobi raise an eyebrow and change his expression from casual to dead serious in less than a second. "Enlighten me Raikage-dono…"

**On the streets**

It was eventful day to say the least for most of the civilians among Konoha as they watched as two caravans made their way towards the stadium which the Chuunin Exams final round was to take place. Some who were watching had mixed feelings about having enemies among them while the majority of them were furious about it.

Yet among these people, a lone Hyuuga was seething at his position atop of one of the buildings overlooking the street. It infuriated him that the man who had made the demand for the Hyuuga's head was casually being taken to the arena while he could do nothing but watch. To him, it felt like the man's mere presence was taunting him and laughing at him.

He clenched his fists angrily before whirling around only to come face to face with his cousin, Hinata, who was staring at the Shinobi from Kumo fearfully. Now normally, Neji would have scoffed at her weakness, but this wasn't the same case. These people planed to kill her, gouge her eyes out, and do research on her bloodline while she was left to rot in some dumpster or be used as a blind slave. So, it was for the first time ever, that Neji showed a member of the main branch of his clan a true act of kindness that he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder to attempt to comfort her.

The said girl flinched out of reflex and turned to see Neji giving her a small, almost unnoticeable, smile which made the girl relax slightly.

"It's alright Hinata-sama," said the boy softly as he removed his hand from her shoulder. "I understand why you are afraid of them, and I will not belittle you because this fear."

Hinata just lowered her gaze to the ground while doing her best to regain control of her emotions like her sensei had instructed. After a few moments, she finally felt fear slowly die away a bit.

"Thank you Neji-nii-san," thanked the girl as she lifted her head to look at Neji. Yet her eyes softened when she found that Neji was no longer standing where he was before.

It didn't take the Byakugan to see that Neji was steadily changing from how he used to be. Before, she knew that he would have just left her were she was standing and not say a word to her. But, now his stares weren't full of malice anymore, it was more of a slight disliking but not full blown hate that it used to be.

"It's thanks to him meeting you Naruto," whispered the girl with a smile. "You really do have the power to change people."

With that said she took one last glance at the caravan before turning around and made her way towards the arena where her father and sister were most likely waiting for her.

**Nara Household**

"Shikamaru!" yelled a woman from behind the door leading to the said boy's room. "Get out of bed and get ready! You have to be at the arena in ten minutes!"

When she received no answer she huffed angrily before pushing the door angrily.

"SHIKAMARU GET OUT OF-"

She blinked a few times when she found that, among the mess that made up Shikamaru's room, her son couldn't be found anywhere. She glanced around to make sure that her son wasn't hiding anywhere only to come up with nothing. Just when she was about to leave his room she found a small note laying on his bedpost. Raising her eyebrow, she walked over and picked up the letter.

_Mom_

_Even if it's troublesome, I left to meet Choji halfway to the arena. Wish me us luck and I hope to see you later._

_Shikamaru_

Nara Yoshino couldn't help but smile at the note that was left. It might have been small, it was at least an improvement on her son's incentive to actually get up and do something. It also proved that her son was actually going to try in this exam.

Suddenly the sound of a twig snapping made her turn around to face the window. Her expression change to complete rage at the sight of Shikamaru standing there, frozen in mid-step.

'Damn twig,' thought the boy angrily before glancing over to face his mother who was now crumpling his letter with her fist.

"SHIKAMARU!"

If one were to watch, one would be amazed how quickly the lazy boy ran away from his home. Some people found it hard to believe that the boy was a Nara while others gave the boy sympathy for the predicament he was going to be in later.

Yet from his spot on the roof, Shikaku was laughing his ass off while his two friends Choza and Inoichi were doing their regain their composure. It was easier said than done as the two were also holding their sides laughing along with their friend.

"He gets that from you doesn't he, Shikaku?" asked Choza in-between laughs.

"Maybe," replied the man. "I think it's a curse all Nara's have. But, it's funny as hell when it's not me hauling ass down the road."

"What are you three laughing at?" asked a voice from behind the three.

All laughing stopped as the three all slowly turned their heads to see a still angry Yoshino holding a frying pan in her hand. Soon, all three men were sweating heavily while Shikaku was taking a few steps away from his angry wife.

"I do know who let him get away, and now guess who has to pay the price Shikaku-kun."

Not long after that, three more blurs followed behind Shikamaru with an angry wife following not far away from them.

**Team Gai's Training Ground**

"… 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 100! Yosh, finally finished!" yelled out Lee as he pumped his fists in the air.

Not far away, Kagari was sitting on a rock watching as Lee finished up his exercises for the morning. She had to admit, just watching him do some of these exercises made her sweat a bit. She saw him grin in her direction and couldn't help but smile back at his enthusiasm.

"Now, for a few more laps around the village just to be sure I'm in tip top shape!"

"Lee, you've done enough exercising to last a day. Don't wear yourself out before the exams even begin," stated Kagari with a bit of frustration. 'Honestly, don't you know when to give it a rest?'

Lee blinked a few times at that before nodding his head. "You are absolutely right Kagari-chan! I have been training hard this whole month, I think I'll just jog to the arena instead."

The girl only sighed in annoyance before replying, "That's fine."

"Kagari-chan."

"Hm."

"I thank you for your concern of my wellbeing this last month. And I promise to see you in the future should I pass this exam."

The girl could only blush a bit at his words. She found it rather sweet of him to make a promise like that even though her village would most likely not allow it. But, the boy did have a knack of doing things that people didn't think he could do.

He had told her a lot about how he used to be and how his sensei had changed him for the better. She could hardly believe that this boy, one of the few who could actually beat her besides Yugito and a few others, was actually the worst of his class. It was then that she not only found a new respect for Lee, but also for Gai and the blonde that had encouraged Lee to keep fighting.

"Well, I'm off Kagari-chan."

"Wait, Lee," said Kagari hastily before the boy could run off. The heavily eyebrowed boy stopped just as he was about to leave and turned to face Kagari with a confused look on his face.

Wordlessly, the girl removed her cloak before walking over towards Lee and handing it to him. Still confused, Lee took the garment before glancing back up at the girl.

"It's something you can have to remember me by after I leave," said the girl before gesturing him to put it on.

Getting the message, he quickly put it on and immediately noticed that it fit him perfectly. He grinned back at Kagari and was about to say thanks when something happened that he never thought would never had expected. Kagari had placed a small kiss on his cheek before stepping back with a crimson blush on her cheeks while Lee was staring at her with eyes widened and pink flush on both cheeks.

"And that, Lee-kun, was for good luck," said the girl with heartwarming smile.

Lee only continued to stare at her for a few moments before his face broke out into a huge grin. And for the first time, he didn't say anything in response, he didn't need to. So, without a word, he gave a nod of his head before turning around and _walked _towards the arena while his grin remained plastered onto his face.

**Random Hotel **

Temari sighed as she heaved her fan onto her back before making her way out the door. Today was the day, the day she somewhat dreaded. She didn't like the idea of fighting against their allies just to prove something. She was no fool, she knew better than to fight against a force as strong as Konoha was.

Even if the time of peace had dulled some of the Shinobi's skills over the years, they never once stopped showing promise as most of the ninja legends that were known worldwide were born, raised, and trained as a ninja in this very village. So, for someone like her, she knew this wasn't just some act to prove Suna's worth to their daimyo, it felt like it had something… more to it than that.

Upon the sound of a door opening, her thoughts were broken as the sight of Gaara entering with his gourd on his back along with his standard gear. She had to fight the urge to shudder while cursing the fact that she was the only one in the room with her brother.

"Temari," came Gaara's monotone voice. "We are leaving."

"R-right Gaara," stammered out the girl before following behind her brother.

Temari couldn't help but hate her father for this. Not just for what he did her little brother, but also for taking Kankuro away from the village. Though, she didn't hear any word from her sensei about it, the man had said that it was all taken care of and that he should be in Suna by now.

'I wish you were here Kankuro,' thought Temari bitterly. 'At least then I wouldn't be alone with a berserker in the room.'

"Hurry up!"

"Yes Gaara."

**Yugito's Apartment**

Yugito sighed from her spot on the bed as she glanced out the only window in her temporary home. She was glad that the finals had arrived after such a long and grueling month, and yet she found herself wishing that today hadn't come. Like, she didn't want her time in this village to end just yet. Seeing as how, she had made two new friends in this village, Inuzuka Hana, and of course Uzumaki Naruto.

But she knew it was inevitable, that this day would come eventually and that once it was over she would more than likely never be able to step foot in this village again. She didn't want to leave, she actually liked it in this village and the thought of not seeing either of her new friends for days, months, or even years made her feel somewhat sad.

"**What's wrong kitten?'** asked her tenant curiously. **'I thought you were looking forward to this."**

'I was till I started growing attached to this place,' thought Yugito with a sigh. 'I guess this place just does that to you.'

"**Or could it be because of the Hanyou?" **snickered Nibi in her cage before sending her container mental images of her and Naruto sleeping in the same bed the day they had gotten drunk together.

Poor Yugito could only blush heavily as she tried to block out the images, but to no avail. This wasn't the first time Nibi had done this to her since that day, in fact the Biju had been repeating the same images every night as she slept. But, having known how to suppress some of Nibi's mental images since she was young, it wasn't too hard to block out unless Nibi was actually putting forth some effort to do so.

'Knock it off Nibi!'

"**Why, you seemed so content then, what's wrong with it now?"**

'I was under the influence of alcohol you stupid cat!'

"**Tsk tsk tsk, blaming such things on alcohol when you know full well that you could have just asked me to make you sober. Face it kitten, you enjoyed it and I personally don't blame you."**

'I didn't know that!'

"**Oh! Well, now you do. But the fact still remains that you enjoyed yourself that night."**

'Whatever,' huffed Yugito inwardly. 'I need to get ready for the finals. Don't take any naps 'cause I might need you sometime in the future matches.'

"**Fine, kitten," **replied the demon before grinning. **"Be sure to give the Hanyou a kiss for me!"**

Before the girl could react to the statement, Nibi severed the link between them but was still able to send her one last mental image. An image, of her kissing Naruto dead on the lips with both of their faces scarlet red while her eyes remained closed.

Yugito had to do everything in her power to fight down the blush that threatened to cover her entire face. But it was then that she remembered something, one of Nibi's abilities that had somewhat passed onto her. It didn't happen often, but on some occasions her dreams or images that Nibi would sometimes send her would show vivid glimpses of her future. The only problem was that, seeing as how she wasn't the Nibi herself, she could never distinguish the difference between predictions or just little things that Nibi ties to send her to mess with her head.

'Screw it,' thought Yugito as she started putting on the rest of her gear. 'I can think about that later.'

With that said, she strapped her kunai holster onto her leg before making her way towards the door. However, just as she was about to leave, she glanced back at her room and allowed a small smile to grace her lips as she looked at the free ramen ticket that Naruto had given her to his favorite stand. He had given it to her three days ago before they had parted ways and had yet to find the time to go and use it.

"After this is over, I'm going to go ahead and use that. Seeing as how in a few more days I won't be around here anymore."

So, with one last sigh, she stepped out of her home, locked up, and headed for the stadium where her final test would take place.

**At the Stadium**

The stadium was, for lack of better term, packed. Civilians, daimyo, and other people ranging from the rich to the dirt poor were all cramped into the massive stadium. As they sat there, the participants all stood in a single row in the center of the arena in which they were going to be fighting in. Though some noted that two of the participants had yet to arrive.

From her spot at the far right, Tenten looked down the row in annoyance as Naruto had yet to arrive. She knew he wouldn't miss this, not for the world and the fact that he was late either meant two things. One, he overslept and was most likely going to miss his fight, or two he lost track of time and was still training as they stood here.

Tenten wasn't the only one wondering where the blond was, as Yugito was also looking around for sight of the blond swordsman. It didn't make since as to why the blond wouldn't be here yet. She even asked Nibi if she sensed him nearby only to come up short when the demon couldn't find him nearby. She clenched her fists in anger while making a mental note to kick the ever living crap out of the blond the next time she saw him.

Up in the stands, Sakura was also curious for both her teammates' tardiness. It wasn't normal for either of them to be late and she hadn't seen either of the two since the month started. Though, she didn't put that much incentive to find Naruto as much as she did Sasuke, she did often wonder where the boy could have gone to make him late.

"Hey forehead!" mocked Ino as she suddenly plopped down next to Sakura.

"Hello Pig," answered the girl while raising her fist at her rival/friend.

"You excited about this?"

"Yeah, but I don't see Naruto here yet. His match is supposed to be first and if he doesn't get here soon, he might lose his match by default."

"Don't worry about him, I'm pretty sure he'll show up on time," said Ino reassuringly before relaxing into her chair.

Over at the Kage's box, Sarutobi was having similar thoughts about Naruto's strange absence. But, he couldn't ponder it for long as his two guests had arrived.

"Ah, Kazekage-dono, Raikage-dono. Good too see both of you," said the elderly Hokage with a friendly smile.

"Wut up?" answered the Raikage as he took his seat to Sarutobi's left.

"Good to see you Hokage-dono," replied the Kazekage while taking the seat to Sarutobi's right.

"I hope the journey here wasn't any trouble for either of you."

"Naw, it wasn't much a problem for me."

"The same could be said for me as well. Though, I'm glad that this year's exams were taking place here. While you're still young, the trip may have been too much for you Hokage-dono. Perhaps you should decide on the fifth?"

The old man chuckled a bit at that before replying. "Please, don't treat me like an old man. I intend to do this for another five years. But, enough of that, let's begin."

Standing up, the elderly Hokage made his way towards the railing before giving his announcements. "Thank you all for coming to Konoha's Chuunin Selection Exam! We will now start the main tournament between the ten participants who made it through the preliminaries! So please stay and watch until the end!"

The crowd cheered happily as the Hokage finished their announcement while some were staring intently at the arena. Among those, was the supposed Raikage, who was now staring at Sarutobi with a raised eyebrow.

"Did ya leave yer glasses at home old man? I only counted eight," stated the man while ignoring the stare the Kazekage was giving him.

Sarutobi only ignored the question as he returned to his seat and waited for the match to start; all the while praying that Naruto can make it for his match in time.

On the ground, Haku let out a sigh before looking over at the line of Genin. She knew she saw Naruto leave this morning, and yet it bugged her that he wasn't here yet. She also noticed that Sasuke had yet to arrive as well and narrowed her eyes in suspicion. Two people late was not a good sign, and with all the corrupt daimyos aiming to win big bets, she could only assume that someone had sent assassins to try and kill off the two opponents. The likelihood of that was low, but in the Shinobi world, almost anything was possible.

"Alright everyone please pay attention. The arena is different but the rules are still the same as before. Which means there are none, you simply need to fight until one of you has died or acknowledges defeat. However, if I deem that the fight is over I'll step in and end the match, understood?"

All nodded their heads and with another sigh she called up the first two contestants.

"Will Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji please step forward. Everyone else please go to the waiting room."

Neji glanced around in confusion when everyone left and he was the only one in the arena. He could already hear some of the people in the stands beginning to yell for the other person to enter the ring and fight. He was tempted to activate his Byakugan to search for the blonde, but thought better of it as he didn't want to waist chakra.

Meanwhile, from their spot in the stands, Hiashi was staring down at the arena with a serious look on his face. He had been waiting for the longest time to see what his nephew could really do and the fact that Naruto had yet to arrive irked him slightly. Beside him, his two daughters, Hanabi and Hinata, were sitting on both sides of him.

"This Uzumaki Naruto seems like a coward if he's not here yet." stated Hanabi with a disappointed look on her face.

He had to hold back a frown at his youngest daughter's attitude for this situation. Sure, he might have thought the same thing at one time, but he had always kept those thoughts inside since in some cases, he could have been dead wrong and feel humiliated about it. He was about to tell her this when someone else decided to speak in his place.

"Naruto-nii-san is not a coward you jerk!" yelled a violet eyed little girl who looked roughly around Hanabi's age whom was sitting behind Hanabi's seat.

Almost instantly, Hitomi's mouth was covered by Yuma's hand as he pulled her away from Hanabi.

"S-sorry about that Hyuuga-sama," apologized the old man sheepishly.

Hiashi couldn't help but sneer at the homeless man's attire before turning his attention back to the arena. Inside though, he was happy that someone as little as that girl had the backbone to say something like that to his own daughter.

His said daughter looked back at the violet eyed girl with a smug expression before turning her attention back at the arena like father did.

Back with Neji, he was now growing irritated and angry by each passing second. He didn't want to win this way, he wanted a challenge, and he was dying to see what skills Naruto had been holding back. Haku too was growing irritated and knew that if Naruto didn't arrive soon, she would have to call the match to Neji.

"Get on with the fight!"

"I didn't pay money to sit around for nothing!"

"Do something you stupid bitch!"

She sighed before looking up at the Hokage for some instructions. She had to do everything in her power to keep her emotions under control when she saw the Hokage nod his head, despite how much he didn't want to do it.

"Seeing as how Uzumaki Naruto is not present, by default, the winner is-"

"Wait a minute!" yelled a familiar voice coming from the entrance.

Not five seconds after hearing the shout, Naruto shot out of the corridor leading to the arena in a flash of red and yellow before to a stop at the center of the arena. Once stopped, he placed his hands on his knees and started panting heavily.

After catching his breath, Naruto straightened himself up before grinning sheepishly at Haku and Neji. "Sorry I'm late I, uh, got lost on the road of life."

Almost immediately a bunch of boos and curses came from the crowd as they started tossing trash at him for his stupidity. Sarutobi had to bite back the urge to smack himself in the forehead and was now mentally cursing Kakashi for letting his student pick up on his bad habits.

"That jackass," muttered Yugito to herself as she glared at Naruto's form as cans and other articles of trash were thrown at him.

'Wait till this is over, Naruto,' thought Tenten as her eyes twinkled with evil intent. 'I'll be sure to teach you to never be late again.'

After a few moments of continuous tossing of junk and other things, the crowd finally calmed down enough to sit back and wait for the match to start.

"See! Naruto-nii-san isn't a coward," stated Hitomi smugly. "He's never missed out on anything awesome like this."

"Please," snorted Hanabi which earned her a harsh glare from her father but didn't seem to notice. "He won't last two minutes against Neji. I bet he can't even us that sword carries."

"Ya huh! I've seen him use it plenty of times when he came to visit us!"

"Where was this at, the slums where he and the rest of the other filth live?"

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRAT!"

Hanabi, Hitomi, Hinata, and even Hiashi stared at Yuma wide eyed as he glared heatedly at the young Hyuuga from his seat. Never had anyone dared to insult or order around a Hyuuga and lived to tell about it.

"I don't care if you're Hyuuga or not, you had best watch what you say. Otherwise, you just might have every single orphan and homeless person after your little spoiled ass. Now turn around and shut your mouth."

A few of the people who heard this, backed a few seats away as killing intent began to steadily leak out of the Hyuuga clan head. Part of him understood why the man was upset, seeing as how this was the main reason Hyuuga had gained a rather… unpleasant reputation among the village since most of his fellow clan members had flaunted their superiority and high clan status. However, that was no excuse to threaten his daughter, even if was to only keep her quiet, it still wasn't forgivable.

So, when he turned to face the elderly man who had yelled at his daughter, he was quite surprised when he saw no flicker of fear or worry, only an even and steady look that made even him slightly wary of the man.

"Watch your tongue, old man," growled out Hiashi. "Because if you don't I'll be sure to cut it off."

"Had you taught her some manners, I wouldn't need to be using this tongue now would I?" responded Yuma while not once breaking eye contact with the Hyuuga.

Yet before the bloodbath could begin, their attention was brought back to the arena when Haku finally spoke. "W-well, seeing as how Uzumaki Naruto is here, the match can now begin."

Soon as that was said, Neji slid into his Juuken stance while activating his Byakugan. Naruto simply smirked before entering his own stance with his hand on the hilt of his sword. The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments while the crowd around them began to hush and watch with looks of excitement and curiosity.

"This is gunna be good," said the Raikage as he relaxed a bit in his chair.

"Indeed," replied the Kazekage with a hint of amusement in his voice.

'Naruto,' thought Sarutobi with a bit of worry. 'Be careful.'

Yet unnoticed to all, a lone figure stood atop of the roof of the bleachers for stadium while garbed in a simple black ANBU style cloak and hood along with a white Hunter Nin mask stared down at the arena floor. The figure smiled behind their mask as they stared down at the two fighters below or, to be more specific, the one garbed in red.

'Lets see what you've become Naruto,' thought the figure as the person awaited for the battle to begin.

* * *

Well, there you have it. Chapter finally done. Now, R&R before dig your eyes out with a spoon and eat them...ok never mind the eating them, I'll just make them into a freaky necklace or something. Now that I think about it that's actually not a bad idea. Well my readers take care, I have..._things_ to do.


	15. Hanyou vs Hyuuga

Yo! Been a while but I'm back baby! Anyway, sorry about the build up chapter cause I know you all have been waiting patently for the big fight to start. No hard feelings but it had to be done. Besides that, I will admit I really liked this chapter for reasons that I can't explain. Maybe its cause of my geniousness or maybe cause I like seeing the old Neji getting his ass kicked. Well, I just used up my thirty seconds writing this so lets get things started! (Randomly throws off coat) Chuunin Exam fight all set, Ready...GO!

Speaking" Normal

Speaking'Thinking

_"Speaking' _Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon speaking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon thinking

**_"Speaking" _**Demon Naruto speaking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

The stadium was oddly quiet as the two contestants stayed still as they waited to see who would make the first move. Both were in their own respective fighting stances, Neji in his Juuken stance and Naruto in his basic sword stance. About the only sound that could be heard was the sound of both the Genin's breathing.

Finally, after a few moments of tense silence from both Genin, Naruto rushed forward with his hand still clutching the hilt of his sword. As Naruto approached, Neji quickly went into his pouch and pulled out three shuriken before tossing them all at the rapidly approaching blond.

Upon seeing this, Naruto unsheathed his sword, quicker than most in the crowd could see, and deflected them. Just as he was in striking distance Neji went into action and sped forward with his right palm reared back. Seeing this, Naruto hastily leapt into the air while just barely avoiding a palm strike to his left ankle. Once he landed, Naruto whirled himself around only to come face to face with Neji, who was now smirking arrogantly at him.

The crowd winced when Neji's palm slammed harshly into the center of the blonde's chest causing Naruto stumble back in severe pain. Seeing his opening, Neji raced forward again as prepared to close the tenketsu points on the blonde's shoulder. He was rather surprised when Naruto managed to avoid it, albeit, barely.

"Seems to me you're not taking this seriously, Naruto," mocked Neji as he returned to his Juuken stance.

"Oh, I am, I just don't want to hurt you too badly," gasped out Naruto as he tried to regain his breath. "After all, these people didn't pay to see me win too quickly."

Scoffing, Neji raced forward once more, aiming to end the battle as quickly as he could. He wasn't like Naruto, he didn't have as large of reserves as he did, and he knew better than most that if he didn't take down Naruto quickly enough, he would surely beat him in the contest of stamina.

As Neji launched his attack, his eyes widened when Naruto had effortlessly caught his wrist just as it was centimeters away from hitting its target.

"Looks to me like you aren't taking this seriously either, 'cause I know you can move faster than this."

Then with little effort he yanked the boy towards him before delivering a powerful right hook to the Hyuuga boy's jaw. This caused most in the audience to gape when Neji went skidding a few feet across the arena floor and stopping a few feet away from the blonde. Glaring back at the blonde, Neji watch as Naruto placed his sword back into its scabbard before extending his arm and pointing at him with only his index and middle finger raised.

'I don't want to get hit by that damn Juuken again, so lets play it safe for a bit 'til I can think of a plan,' thought Naruto as he focused some of his youki into his fingertips.

A few seconds later, yellow-green energies began to surround the two fingers as a steady beam of energy extended until it stopped about seven inches off the ground. Having seen this attack before, Neji knew that its present length wasn't all it could extend to.

After lashing it out a few times, Naruto turned his attention back onto the Hyuuga who was now back on his feet and ready to move. He smirked at that as it seemed that Neji hadn't forgotten what his youki-whip could do. So, with a simple flick of his wrist, he lashed his whip out towards Neji as he stayed a safe distance away from him.

Dodging the strange weapon, Neji raced forwards as quickly as he possibly could before having to stop and dodge a barrage of lashes. After jumping, ducking, and parrying for a while, Neji was able to get close enough to strike only to be foiled when the boy blocked his attack with his forearm.

Naruto winced in pain as he felt his arm go slightly numb. Nevertheless, he was able to shove the opposing palm away before attempting to deliver a roundhouse kick to the boy's ribs. He cursed loudly when Neji was able to catch his shin before pressing down on several tenketsu on his leg with speeds that Naruto couldn't even catch.

Now, Naruto knew he was in trouble. With his leg now practically dead, he had no way of stopping some of Neji's relentless attacks. So it was no surprise to him when the second Neji let go of his shin that a tremendous amount of pain spiked from his abdomen which caused him to go crashing down to the ground while clutching his stomach. Neji stared down at Naruto's wincing form on the ground with a bit of disgust on his face.

"You disappoint me, Naruto," spat out Neji as he glared down at Naruto's still groaning form, "I thought you said you were taking this seriously, yet you are deliberately holding back. I want to see you at your best, to see what I'm truly capable of."

At that, Naruto's groans ceased and, unnoticed by Neji, a small grin began to form on his face. In the blink of an eye, a familiar yellowish whip appeared on the edges of his fingertips before the said whip wrapped itself around Neji's neck in the coarse of a three seconds.

With a small smirk on his face, he gave the whip a sharp tug which caused the still surprised Neji to fall face first into the arena floor. Seeing his opening, Naruto leapt into the air above the boy before lashing his whip down upon Neji's exposed back multiple times which earned a loud holler of pain as the fabric and skin on Neji's back was ripped to shreds.

Once his little onslaught was complete, Naruto landed casually on the ground next to one of the nearby trees in the arena. He watched in amusement when the Hyuuga remained on the ground with his face in the dirt. His look of amusement was soon replaced by a look of astonishment as Neji burst into smoke to reveal a log with several gashes on it.

Looking around franticly, he winced a bit due to his still numb leg. It only was when he heard the sound of footsteps did Naruto realize where the boy was. Quickly whirling around, he unsheathed his sword just in time to block a kunai that was being held by Neji who was still applying more force in hopes of breaking the blonde's guard. After a few moments of struggling, the two jumped away from each other before skidding to a stop.

"This is getting intense," stated Yugito from her spot on the railing.

"Yeah, I know. Both seem to be even to me," answered Tenten watched the two with worried look in her eyes.

Glancing over at the weapon's mistress, Yugito couldn't help but wonder who this girl really was. She could tell that she knew both Naruto and Neji, but the thing she wanted to know was how she knew them. But that wasn't the only thing she had noticed, she noticed with a bit of annoyance, that the girl had her eyes practically glued to Naruto's form.

"**You aren't going to let this girl take your mate are you?"** asked Nibi with a hint of amusement in her voice.

'Hell no! Wait, he's not my mate you stupid cat! How many times do I have to tell you that?'

"…**I have no comment at this time thank you."**

'That's what I thought.'

With that said, Yugito disconnected the link before focusing her attention back to the arena.

'This is getting me nowhere fast,' thought Naruto franticly as sweat began to drizzle down his face. 'I haven't caused nearly as much damage as he has to me and if I don't do something soon, he's eventually going to hit me with something that could cause some real damage.'

Before he could continue his thoughts, Neji decided to speak. "Why are you still holding back?"

"I'm not."

"Do not lie to me Naruto. Do you think I have forgotten about how you defeated the Inuzuka from the preliminaries? Please, if you weren't holding back then you would be using that bloodline of yours. So why aren't you, isn't using every advantage you have part of wining?"

"Unlike you and everyone else Neji, I don't flaunt my bloodline every time I encounter a problem. I can take care of myself either with or without it."

This earned a scowl to spread across the Hyuuga prodigies face. "Fine, then if that is how it must be, I suppose I must crush you and show you how useless you are without it."

With that said, the young Hyuuga dashed forward at speeds that had even Lee gaping a bit. Naruto, who was rather surprised by this sudden jump in speed, had no way of blocking or evading the boy's palm to his chest. Soon after, blood began to seep out of the Hanyou's mouth before being assaulted by four jabs to his tenketsu in his shoulders and chest followed by an uppercut to his chin sending him off his feet and into the air.

The crowd gasped at this, and a few began to cheer a bit but were almost immediately silenced by the shushing of nearby surveyors. When he finally landed on the ground with a loud thud that seemed to echo all around the stadium he didn't move. He didn't get back up for several moments in fact. Neji, who watched this with a distasteful look in his eyes, scoffed loudly, before turning away from the downed blonde.

"Pathetic," was the only word he muttered as he slowly made his way towards the exit.

However, just as he was about to declare himself the winner, Naruto stood up once more with a changed look in his eyes. Neji didn't need to turn around to know that Naruto was glaring at the back of his skull. Instead, he waited to see what the blonde would do, now that his back was towards him.

"You know something Neji," growled the boy coldly as he glared at the boy in front of him. "I'm really getting sick of that whole 'without your bloodline you're nothing' crap you and everyone else talk about all the time."

"And what do you plan to do about it… dobe."

That was the last straw. "Alright, that's it! I'm tired of this bullshit, Neji! All this 'dobe' this and 'dobe' that has gotten on my last nerve! Hell, it's almost as bad as that stupid fate shit you babbled about when we first met! And you know what else? I'm sick of it and now I'm going to burn that name once and for all!"

"And how do you plan to do that _dobe_? It's been decided by fate that you wont lose to me with or without that pathetic excuse of a bloodline. And, as you should know by now, you cannot change your fate. The only fate we all share… is death."

"See! There you go again with that fate shit! I told you back then that I didn't believe in fate, and I couldn't give a rat's ass if you believe that it can't be changed! All that matters to me is burning that stupid name that _you_ all gave me!"

"This is pointless," Neji sighed arrogantly, as he slid into his stance once more. "You can't defy fate, that's all there is to it. And today, I'll be sure to prove this to you."

Naruto after having quite enough of this banter simply growled before inhaling a great amount of air while chakra poured into his chest. Seeing a good portion of chakra being built up, Neji wisely decided to test out his newest technique on whatever the blonde was planning to do.

'_Kitsune-bi_!'

Neji's eyes, along with everyone else in the stadium, widened when a ghostly blue flame burst from the blonde's mouth and directly towards the young Hyuuga prodigy. Quickly getting out of his shock, Neji continued to pour out more and more chakra from all around his body before he began to spin.

"_Kaiten_!" yelled out the Hyuuga as a light blue dome of spinning chakra formed around him.

Everyone watched in suspense as the blue flames engulfed the young prodigy and soon it was impossible to see him through the flickering flames surrounding him. Only Naruto seemed to know what was happening, as his face showed absolute shock and surprise.

After a few more seconds of waiting, the flames began to die out, and in the center of now burnt and smoldering arena, stood Neji in a small crater most likely created by his own technique.

"Impressive display of fireworks, dobe," mocked Neji as he smirked arrogantly at Naruto's stiffened form. "I hope that is not all you can do."

"This is bad," muttered Sakura worriedly, "_Really _bad."

"Why?" asked Ino, as she took notice of Sakura's distressed state.

"That's one of Naruto's most powerful jutsu that I've seen him use so far. That attack is almost if not equal to Sasuke's most powerful Katon jutsu in his arsenal. For Neji to not even be burnt is a bad sign for Naruto."

"B-but what about that whip thing he was using a while ago? Can't he use that on Neji or something?"

"From what I can guess, it's only for long range and even then, it doesn't cut through flesh. Plus, as you saw earlier, it did little but stall for time against Neji. Basically, Naruto's in a jam that even I don't think he can get himself out of."

Ino's eyes softened sadly as she looked down at the arena floor as Naruto had still yet to move. She felt a bit bad for the guy, not only because of his now hopeless situation, but also because of the key thing Naruto wished to rid himself of. To rid himself the title of 'dobe' once and for all.

'Seems like life never gives you a break… does it Naruto?' thought Ino sadly as she looked over at Sakura who had almost the same expression on her face.

"Are you afraid, Naruto?" mocked Neji as he kept taking steps closer and closer towards Naruto. "Are you now realizing that you stand no chance against me without that bloodline of yours?"

Naruto didn't answer, which caused Neji to smirk a bit. "Admit it, you have been and always will be nothing without those abilities with you. The sooner you admit this and use those abilities, the sooner you can defeat me."

Again no response, which was something that was now no longer amusing to the branch house member. But, he disregarded it as unimportant, since he was now about to end the match with his next attack. So, he halted his steps and was now standing about three feet away from Naruto.

"You are now in range of my divination," stated Neji coldly before sliding into an unfamiliar stance. Naruto, who had just come out of his stupor not long ago, stared at Neji with a raised eyebrow.

"_Hakke: Rokujuuyonsho,_" muttered the boy before shooting forwards at high speeds. Naruto, who still had no idea what was going on, raised his arms to block whatever attack Neji was using. When he looked back on this, he would realize that blocking any attack from a Hyuuga was pretty much pointless.

"Hakke: Two palms!"

At that, he stuck two key tenketus that not only blocked his chakra, but also the nerves in them, causing Naruto gasp in sudden pain, and feeling his arms go limp leaving him completely open for the onslaught.

"Four palms!"

As quick as lightning, Neji's hands blurred as they pressed down on more tenketsu on his body, causing more pain followed by blood seeping from his mouth.

"Eight palms!"

Again, quicker than some could even see, Naruto was stuck eight more times by the Hyuuga. And as the strikes came, Naruto could feel numbness and the shortage of his own chakra to drain from his body.

"Sixteen palms!"

Now, Neji's hands could no longer be visible, and the only sign of the attack hitting was the jerking and shouts of pain coming from Naruto's throat as more and more tenketsu were being hit.

"Thirty-two palms!"

Now, people could see blood seeping from the blonde's mouth as his screams of pain began to echo off the stadium walls. People winced at this display of what they saw as brutality in Neji's attack. Hell, even some of the people who hated the blond couldn't help but feel a tad bit sorry for him, but only slightly.

"Hakke: Sixty-four palms!"

And with one last strike to the blonde's chest, the boy was sent flying backwards with blood spraying out of his mouth. He landed on the ground with a loud thud which also seemed to echo around the eerie quiet stadium as everyone sat gaping at the now fallen Hanyou. Yugito and Tenten had to do everything in their willpower to stay on the balcony so as to not interrupt the battle. 'Course now they knew that it was over, not a soul could take that and still manage to get back up.

'Why didn't you just transform you baka!' thought Kiba madly as he sat next to his mother and sister who were looking down at the arena with similar thoughts in mind.

Hana glanced down at her three dogs who were all whining and whimpering at the sight. Seeing this, Hana placed her hand on one of the dogs' heads as she started to pet it in hopes that it would help. She knew it wouldn't but it never hurt to try.

"He'll be ok, don't worry," whispered Hana as her dogs looked back at her with their ears down and a strange look of worry on their faces.

"I knew he wouldn't stand a chance against Neji," stated Hanabi coldly as she looked back at Hitomi. She noticed that the girl looked as though she was about to cry as small droplets began to peek out from the corners of her eyes. She would have commented further on it when she saw the old man next to her glare at her with such animosity that she held back her words and turned around to face the arena.

Back on the ground, Neji sighed as he glanced down at the heap on the ground called Naruto. He held no remorse for the boy, how could he when he did this to himself? All he wanted was to see if he was truly stronger than him and now the blond was paying the price for it.

"I have hit sixty-four tenketsu on your body, you can no longer stand," Neji coolly proclaimed as he watched as Naruto twitched a bit on the ground. He noticed that the boy would try to stand a few times only to collapse on the ground again with a thud.

"Is it painful Naruto?" In response he got another groan from the blonde. "You should know better than to try and defy fate. It was fate that made you who you are today, it was fate that made you the dobe you are, and it is fate that decided this match from the very beginning."

Naruto continued to grunt as he tried again to rise to his feet. And with every passing second he heard Neji speak, memories of his past flew by his eyes. Memories of how he had been mocked by his peers about not being able to _Henge_ correctly, how his teachers scolded him whenever he practiced his Taijutsu during his time in the academy. When he made an attempt to get up once more, his eyes widened at what he saw.

A familiar whisker marked young boy, with short spiky hair staring down at the arena floor with tears falling off his cheeks. His clothes were dirty and torn, his face was bloody and bruised, and his fists were clenched so hard that blood was seeping out of the cracks in-between his fingers.

He remembered that day, it was the day he had gotten into a fight with Sasuke during a sparring session in the Academy and he had lost… badly. In fact it was so bad that even the instructor had started to laugh at his pathetic display of Taijutsu. He ran home that day, and it was that day that he had been given his title of dobe among his classmates.

Gritting his teeth in anger, he shook his head to shake out the bad memories before trying once more to stand. This time however, he succeeded, but was still wobbly on his feet and it seemed like his legs were about to give out at any second.

Most of the people in the audience gasped in surprise while others just simply smirked. To be specific it was the Raikage who was smirking at this display while Sarutobi and the Kazekage both had their eyes widen in surprise like the rest of the crowd. Hell even Hiashi had to admit that the boy had impressed him with this great display of willpower as it was a sight that few had ever seen for someone to get up after taking that attack head on.

"I told you once Neji," gasped out Naruto as he panted from the pain and fatigue that was plaguing him. "I don't believe in fate."

Neji just continued to stare at him oddly before suddenly scoffing. "Just quit, continuing anymore will only be prolonging the inevitable. You are fated to lose to me this day, can't you just accept that?"

"Hell no!" replied the blonde as he glared back at the white eyed boy. "I won't quit, even if you do end up killing me this day I won't quit!"

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"What purpose does it bring if you refuse to give up? If everything you strive for dies with you, then what purpose does it have?"

"The purpose is that, even if I do die, I will at least know I tried my best and didn't stop believing that I can win. But one thing I always wanted to know is why? Why do you assume everything is decided by fate?"

At this Neji's eyes narrowed. "That's none of your business."

"The hell it is! I've seen how you looked at Hinata during the finals. I saw that look of hatred in your eyes when she was fighting. Now I might not know much about you Hyuuga but what I do know is that you all are family, and family shouldn't be hating each other for no fucking reason!"

The air was cold as the words left his mouth. A sober expression crossed over Neji's face as the veins around his eyes faded. "Fine… if you're going to go that far I'll tell you. I'll tell you about the Hyuuga's fate of hatred.

"The Hyuuga main family has a special ninjutsu that's been passed down. Simply put, it's a cursed seal jutsu."

"A cursed seal jutsu?"

"Yes, the curse of the seal represents 'a bird in a cage.' It is a symbol of being tied down to an inescapable fate," spoke Neji softly as he began to remove his hitai-ate.

When he finally did, Naruto's eyes widened as he looked at the strange light green seal on the Hyuuga's forehead. It resembled what looked like a swastika only the tips of each line were curved into hooks. On each side of it was a single line with the same curved tip near the seal with the right curve pointing downwards and the left line pointing upwards.

"One day when I was only four years old I had this horrible seal carved into my forehead though that curse seal jutsu. That same day, a grand ceremony was taking place in Konoha. A shinobi leader from Kumo, which had been warring with Konoha for many years, had arrived to sign an alliance treaty. But at this ceremony, which everyone attended from Jounin to Genin, one clan was missing. That was the Hyuuga clan because that was an important day that the heir to the Hyuuga clan turned three. Hinata-sama's third birthday.

"My father, Hyuuga Hizashi, and Hinata-sama's father, Hyuuga Hiashi-sama, were twins. But Hinata-sama's father was born to this world first, a member of the main family and my father, the second son, became a member of the branch family."

Neji paused here as memories of that day came flooding back into his mind. The look in his father's eyes, the way Hiashi had taken him to have his seal carved into his forehead. All of those images flashed in front of him in a blink of an eye and was soon forced to shake it off.

"When the Hyuuga first daughter became three I was turned into 'the bird in the cage' through this curse, as a Hyuuga branch member."

"W-why is that necessary? Why do you need that seal? Is it to distinguish between the main and the branch families?" asked Naruto with curious look on his face.

"No, this seal on my forehead is not simply a decoration. This curse seal is the absolute fear of death given to the branch members by the main family. With a simple single hand seal the branch member's mind can easily be destroyed, death is just as easy of course. And this curse will only disappear after death sealing up the ability of the Byakuugan along with it.

"The Hyuuga clan is a clan that holds great advanced blood. Those that go after those secrets are incalculable. So, with this jutsu, the branch members are allowed to live only to protect the main members. No disobedience is allowed by the main family. It's an effective system, created to eternally protect the advanced Byakuugan blood of the Hyuuga. And then that day came and my father was killed by the main family.

"One night Hinata-sama was taken by someone. Hiashi-sama quickly took care of it and killed him. It was dark and he was wearing a mask. Who do you think it was?"

At this, Naruto's eyes widened as he put the pieces together. "No."

"Yes, he was the Kumo shinobi leader who had just signed the alliance treaty. It became clear that he was here after the Hyuuga secrets from the beginning. But Kumo with one of their leaders killed in the failed plan made demands of Konoha for breaking the alliance. Of course Konoha and Kumo bickered back and forth – it almost came to war. But with Konoha wanting to avoid war they made a backdoor deal with Kumo."

"What kind of deal?"

"Kumo wanted the Hyuuga main family's advanced blood and the Byakuugan. They demanded the corpse of Hiashi-sama and Konoha had agreed to their wishes and war was safely avoided. Thanks to my father, who was killed by the main family to replace Hyuuga Hiashi's corpse."

All was silent once more as all the information was processed by the audience. Sarutobi, along with Hiashi, bowed their heads in remorse at what had to be done. The Raikage too had bowed his head at the troubles his village had caused on the life of the boy. Even if he wasn't the real deal, he still felt bitter about it and he was glad that the old bastard back then was executed for not only failing what he had promised his village, but for also risking a war that nether could win.

"To end this horrible curse, there's no method but death. They were twins, their strength was virtually the same, born first born second. Fate was decided just by that. And this fight… your fate was decided the moment I became your opponent."

"We'll see Neji," sighed out Naruto before wincing in pain. "I don't have a clue of how bad it feels to have your father was killed a long time ago, but thinking that fate is all decided because of that is just a big mistake."

"You're hopeless," replied Neji as he placed his hitai-ate back onto his forehead. The moment it was secure, the veins around his eyes bulged out and he sped forwards before slamming his palm into the barely standing blonde. The boy was knocked off his feet as he went tumbling along the ground before skidding to a stop.

"This match is over, proctor," stated Neji as he eyed Naruto's battered form on the ground. "Dobe."

Naruto's arm twitch before his fist clenched a bit out of both anger and frustration. Soon, he started to return to his feet once more while glaring hard at the Hyuuga in front of him. "G-get your ass back here."

Smirking, Neji turned to face the boy only slightly surprised to see his eyes flickering from blue to gold. This made his smirk widen as he turned his full attention back onto Naruto.

"Are you finally planning to show me what you are truly made of Naruto? I doubt it will make any difference since this match has already been decided by fate."

"Oh SHUT UP ALREADY! I'm sick of your fucking whining about fate and how everything is decided by it."

"An ignorant brat like you shouldn't be lecturing people who are burdened with a fate they cannot oppose. You could never understand what its like to be burdened with a symbol you could never rid yourself of!"

From her spot on the railing, Yugito scoffed at the comment while the Raikage just frowned at the boy's words. Back with Naruto on the arena floor, an image of the all the villagers appeared in his mind, with Kyuubi's shadow connecting with his feet. The people glared at his back and before long, an image of the giant fox began to form around him.

Naruto let out a small smirk when the giant fox was soon replaced with the beautiful woman he had come to know as Kyuubi. She was kneeling beside him with one of her arms wrapped around his shoulders while some of the people from the crowd soon joined beside him.

"Yeah, I can," said Naruto while smiling a bit at Neji's angered face. But, as Neji noticed, it wasn't his normal smile it was a smile that belonged to wise old men who had seen and done things none could ever imagine. Despite that, it was a smile that showed true understanding, something he never expected to see on Naruto's face.

"And you know something else?" smirked the blonde as he started to remove his cloak. "Who gives a fuck? You're not the only one who suffers in life. You at least had a chance to meet your father, I never had that privilege. So you talk all you want about fate, 'cause at this point, I'm not playing with you anymore."

Upon sliding his arms out of the sleeves, he swiftly removed the cloak, despite the pain, and stood ready. Neji only sighed as he re-entered his fighting stance.

"Your Sixty-four tenketsu points are all blocked, you won't be able to use chakra for a while so how are you to fight me? Because if you are so determined to win, then please prove to me that fate can be changed."

Naruto smirked a bit at that. Sighing, he quickly removed his arm-guards before tossing them aside. After that, the boy took a deep breath before forming a Tora seal. This act confused Neji as he had already stated that his chakra was blocked. To his and everyone else's surprise, ghost blue flames started to whirl around the blonde as he stood in place with his facial features in a look of pure concentration.

Activating his Byakuugan, what Neji saw made him gasp. Yellowish green energy was pouring from seemingly out of nowhere on the blonde's body. But, unlike chakra, it wasn't chaotic, it was tamed, precise, and above all dazzling to look at. It swirled around in the body like a whirlpool in the deepest seas while remaining contained in his body. Even the blue flames seemed to radiate this glow as it danced and flickered around the blonde's body.

To everyone else it was the most magnificent site to see, as it spiraled around Naruto while stood in the eye of the ferocious storm of blue fire. Soon, the spiral began to die down a bit and before anyone realized it, it had already sunk to about the same height as Naruto. But that wasn't the end of it as the boy slowly and cautiously broke away from the hand seal and out stretched his arms until his fingertips were merely inches away from the blue flames.

And as though some sort of signal had occurred, the blue flames slowly dispersed into two separate blasts and shot into the air. A few moments later, the blasts of fire shot down on both of Naruto's forearms and hands causing the flesh and skin to melt away like hot butter. Yet the strange thing about this was Naruto didn't seem to register the pain, in fact he looked as though he was oblivious to it.

As skin peeled away, black and ghostly blue fur-covered appendages began to replace the originally dark tanned skin. His hands, which were also the same as his forearms, now had rather sharp black claws. When the flames finally died down completely, Naruto had opened his eyes and the moment he did, more blue flames burst from his forearms in a straight line from his elbow to his wrists.

"This, Neji," said Naruto as he raised both his arms for the Hyuuga to see, "Is my power, not my bloodline's, but _mine_. There are no more tricks, no more screwing around, this is all for real from here on out."

With that said, Naruto lifted a single hand into the air before smirking at the still shocked Neji, who was still finding all that had happened hard to believe. "Let see how you fare against my newest jutsu, Hyuuga Neji! I didn't want to use this on you, because this technique is easily _fatal_. Asshole or not, you're still a comrade, so try not to die!"

"_Kitsune-bi no Ki_!" hollered out Naruto before bringing his arm down in Neji's direction.

To Neji's and everyone's further surprise, it seemed as though Naruto's arm had stretched as the blue flames again engulfed the entire appendage as it shot out towards stunned Hyuuga. Luckily for him, he got out of his stupor quickly enough to jump out of the way in time to avoid the quickly approaching object. He heard the sound crashing and looked down to see nothing but dust covering the area floor. Just when he thought he was safe, out of the dust, a familiar ghostly blue claw shot out in an attempt to grab him.

Cursing to himself, Neji began to charge up chakra around him once more. He knew he had never used Kaiten while in the air and while it may be his only way out of this mess, he knew he wasn't going to like the results if things went bad. So, with a blind leap of faith, he began to spin, while in mid air, as the hand was steadily getting closer.

"_Kaiten_!" shouted Neji before he was encased in a small sphere of swirling chakra.

When the blast hit, he had expected it to be just the same as before when he used this attack. He was dead wrong cause the moment the claw made contact with the chakra orb, he was practically swatted towards the stadium wall like a tennis ball. When the boy crashed into the wall, a loud explosion was heard followed by a cloud of dust.

Naruto, who was still in the spot he was before, yanked his arm backwards and everyone watched as the giant blue flaming appendage zipped back to its original place as though it had always been there. As dust cleared everyone could clearly see Neji panting as he stood in the creator he had just made while one hand was propped up against the wall.

Smirking, Naruto cocked his arm back and prepared to shoot his arm out towards the still panting Neji. The said boy saw this and immediately jumped out of the creator just as the now giant hand crashed into the spot he had just at. He heard the sound of hissing coming from above him and looked up to see that the spot he was just at was now melting under the intense heat that was radiating from the arm. Looking back at Naruto, he saw the boy had his other arm cocked back as well, and he raced off to avoid it.

Neji scowled as he dodged his way around the stadium to avoid the burning blue arms being shot at him. He had tried throwing a few kunai at the boy only to come up short when they melted the moment they came even remotely near either arm. Now, all Neji could do now was run, run and think up a new strategy.

"You know Neji, you said that I was fated to lose to you this day and that everything is decided by fate," stated Naruto as he retracted his arms. "I think you were wrong and I aim to prove it."

Raising an eyebrow at this statement, Neji quickly shook it off before rushing forwards at high speeds. He wouldn't lose, he couldn't lose, after all, he was fated to win in the first place right?

Just when he was about to strike the boy in the chest with a Juuken strike to hopefully win the match, he was hit dead in the stomach by what felt like a flaming iron. He screamed in pain as his shirt burnt away while second and third degree burns appeared on his abdomen. Not only that, but the force that was put behind that caused him to go skipping like a pebble on a flat surfaced lake. When the boy finally came to a stop, he was in immense pain not just because of the burns, but also due to the whiplash from the multiple impacts on the hard gravel. Just when he thought it couldn't be any worse, it did, as a familiar large appendage came flying directly at him. The only two differences this time though was that Neji could do nothing to dodge or block it, and two was that the arm wasn't smothered in flames.

He screamed louder as yet another tremendous amount of force grabbed him and shot towards the wall where he and the bluish hand both crashed into it, causing dust to kick up once more. Retracting his arm, Naruto stared at the dust cloud as it slowly thinned out. When it was finally cleared, Neji could be seen in yet another crater pressed up against the wall with his eyes glazed over a bit and blood seeping out of the corners of his mouth. Shaking his head, Naruto walked towards him while the flames on his arms started to fade away a bit.

After a few moments of walking, he was finally in front of Neji, who he could tell was still alive. He saw that most of Neji's clothing was now either singed or was burnt. In short, the boy looked like he went to hell and back… almost literally.

"Neji… if you can hear me then I want to tell you something," the Hyuuga was silent, but Naruto knew that he was listening due to the flicker of his eye looking at him. "I don't know much about this whole Hyuuga fate of hatred, but just know that if it's too much for you then you don't have to do anything about it anymore. For when I become Hokage I'll change the Hyuuga for you, I promise."

Naruto saw the slight glimmer shine in the boy's eyes at that as he let a small smile grace his lips before closing his eyes to enter blissful unconsciousness. Sighing he turned away from the sight of Neji and glanced over at Haku, who was staring intently at both his arms. "Get some help for him please, Haku-chan, I think he might die without it."

Shaking herself out of her stupor, she nodded before shouting out, "The winner of the first round, Uzumaki Naruto!"

The whole stadium was deathly quiet at the announcement. That much he had expected, but what he didn't expect, was for the Raikage to actually stand up and start clapping. Soon, Yuma also stood up along with Hitomi and they too started to clap.

"GO NARUTO!" cheered Yugito and Tenten simultaneously before looking back at each other with raised eyebrows.

"That was the shit Naruto!" yelled out Kiba while Akamaru, along with the Haimaru siblings, howled and barked happily. Hana and Tsume were both grinning down at the while both clapping along with everyone else. Sakura and Ino both cheered as loud as they could, which caused some people to go deaf, and Gai was shouting out all sorts of things about flames of youth.

And from his spot on the arena floor, Naruto was staring around in a daze as something was happening that he never thought would have. People were cheering for him, people were clapping and congratulating him. But most importantly of all, they had all started accepting him for his strength. And to him, that meant more than almost anything else in the world.

Glancing down at his still transformed hands, he sighed before raising both of them into the air. This caused most to grow silent as they began to glow from ghost blue to sky blue in the course of a few seconds. Then, almost like glass, the arms began to crack showing a glowing yellowish green light underneath the strange appendages. And finally, with a loud crack, bright yellowish green light burst from his arms and tiny particles of youki began to shower the field.

Looking at it, you would find that it was the most gorgeous thing in the world and as the particles landed on the ground and the surrounding burnt trees, the plants began to return back to their healthy green color while the trees began to look alive with leaves sprouting out once more from each branch. When the shower of bright light ceased the arena's environment, with a few craters and the trench aside, looked like it originally was.

"Remarkable," gasped Temari as she and her brother eyed the blonde haired youth. She did take notice to the third degree burns left on Naruto's forearms and hands while also seeing a scant few tiny boils on his forearms as well.

'It seems like that jutsu is a double edge sword after all,' thought the girl as she glanced over at Gaara who was staring intently at the blonde. 'I just hope Gaara can be patient enough to go along with the plan.'

After completing what he needed to do, he glanced over to his right to see Haku smiling proudly while Neji's unconscious form was being taken into the medical ward. Smiling back at Haku, he went to take a step forwards, only to almost trip on his own feet. Curing his stupidity, he tired to regain his balance but was far to drained of both physical and mental fatigue. It was then that two figures appeared in the center of the arena. Glancing upwards to see who had just jumped down, he couldn't help but smile a bit at the two.

"Yo Ten-chan, Yugito-chan."

Both girls smiled a bit before Tenten stepped up to aid the boy towards the stairs. Yet before she could even take another step forward, Yugito was on the other side of the blonde with one hand on his back while gently moving the boy's arm over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" asked Tenten with a very noticeable tone of annoyance.

"Helping him get to the waiting room, what else?" replied Yugito. "Why don't you go grab his stuff while I take him back up?"

"Why don't you?"

"Because I'm kinda busy trying to get him up there. Don't be so pushy about things sweetie, it doesn't seem to suit you."

"What did you say you bitch!"

And after that, Naruto was forced to endure the sound of multiple shouts from two enraged women as they fought over who was taking him up and who got his cloak and armguards. He was half tempted to say screw it but wisely kept his mouth closed. And after a few more minutes of bickering, Haku suggested that the two both take him up while she got the rest of his things. Most of the crowd sweatdropped at that point while both women blushed out of embarrassment before proceeding to take the boy up to the upper levels.

Yet still unnoticed to all, the same Anbu had been watching the fight with great interest. The Anbu didn't expect the boy to be as strong as he was. The Anbu only let out a low chuckle at the sight of the two girls fighting over him, it was amusing the Anbu admitted.

"Good work Naruto," said the Anbu before turning around to face the forest. "Now it's time to take care of the scum outside."

And in a blink of an eye the Anbu was gone leaving no identification that he or she had ever been there in the first place.

* * *

_Kitsune-bi no Ki_ - Soul of Fox Fire

_Kaiten_ - Whirl

_Hakke: Rokujuuyonsho _- Eight Division: Sixty-Four Palms

Done at last! Now to get the next chapter out. That in itself won't be too hard since I'm almost finished with it anyway. Also, the attack was something I made up and will be explained later. Trust me when I say that you'll see that jutsu again in future chapters.

Oh, before I forget, I have a request for somebody (anybody who's good at writing) to take up. I want to see if anyone could make a song fic for Naru/Yugi baised on the song Gotta Be Somebody by Nickelback. I'd do it myself but I find that song fics are my greatest weakness. If someone does this for me I would be greatly thankful to that person. Other than that, I have nothing left to say except to R&R or I'll slowly descend you into a meat grinder from the legs up.


	16. A Battle of Blades and Lightning

Yo people! (Hides behind random pillar) Sorry for taking so long to update but do to some certain...issues I was forced to rewrite this chapter again. To make it simple, my computer crashed and it forced me to wipe everything off my computer, even my powerpoints that have two new arcs I was planning to add after Tsunade arc. But don't worry, I'm almost finished with remaking them so pretty soon I can improve on them as I go along. But enough of me talking, lets get on with the newest chapter!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_ Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Naruto winced as he felt the burns on his arms steadily began to heal. It was again he thanks the high heavens for his rapid healing abilities since, without it, he would surely be out of commission for the remainder of the exam. Though, Tenten and Yugito seemed less than relieved to in fact see the wounds he had inflicted on himself, he had assured to them that it he would be fine. Yugito seemed to understand but Tenten and some of the others weren't as relieved as her.

Currently though, he was concerned about the high tension he had felt between the two girls. He could tell, just by the few glances at them, that some sort of hostility was surrounding the two. Course he was no fool, he knew a rivalry when he saw one, trouble was, he didn't think it was only about the match that the two were concerned about.

Call it a gut feeling, but something told him that he had something to do with it.

Then there was something else that had been bugging him since the moment the two left for the arena. At first he didn't notice it since all the tension in the air made him focus on the two opposing females but after they left was when he noticed it. The stench of something fowl, something that he recognized rather well.

Blood and a large quantity of it. Not only that but also the faint lingering of killing intent that seemed to be barely suppressed. And after sniffing the air for a few moments, he found the source was coming from non-other than Sabaku no Gaara.

That in itself made him worry about his teammate which, he just took to realize, was still absent. Glancing back at the redhead he saw that he was staring intently at the arena floor with an emotionless gaze that made him quiver a bit.

"He creeps me out too." Muttered Shikamaru with a sigh as he leaned over on the railings next to the blond.

"Yeah." Was all Naruto's response was before glancing back down at the arena floor.

"Hey Naruto," said Shikamaru, "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why were you so late getting here? I never saw as you as someone who would show up for something like this."

Naruto turned to glance over at the lazy Nara as thoughts from what he had been doing prior to arrival to the stadium.

**Flashback**

'**Well, today's the day Naru-kun.' **Chimed Kyuubi as Naruto made his way towards the arena. **'Excited yet?'**

'Jumping with joy Kyuu-chan.' Thought Naruto with a sigh

'**Hey come on now, don't worry about it too much. You'll do fine and if not then at least go out with a bang.'**

'Will do Kyuu-chan but in the mean time, can I be left alone for a little bit?'

Inside his mind, Kyuubi frowned a bit. She knew something was wrong but, never the less, respected his wishes and replied. **'Sure, if you need anything let me know ok?'**

'Will do.' Thought the blonde before feeling the link sever. With another sigh, he glanced up at the sky for a moment before veering off the road towards the Hokage monument. 'I've got time, right now I need some time to think.'

Thirty minutes later, Naruto was now standing on the head of Youndaime while glancing down at the village. He could see the activity that bussing through the village and let himself smile a bit at how many people had come to their village. But it didn't help his mood as he saw that the majority of them were headed towards the stadium where his fight was going to take place.

"Don't you have somewhere to be brat?" asked a familiar voice from behind him.

"I have time to kill," shrugged the blonde. "so sue me for wanting to find a spot to come and think."

"What's on your mind brat?" asked Jiraiya as he stepped beside the red cloaked youth.

Glancing over at the old man that he had steadily grown to respect, he opened his mouth to speak only to close it again and stare back into the distance. This continued for a while, him looking over at the man, try to say something before stopping and turning to look out into the distance. Finally, the boy sighed as his shoulders sagged before staring intently at the ground.

"I don't know, many things I guess." Replied the boy.

"Is it about the match?"

"…You could say that."

"Then what's the problem?"

Naruto was silent once more while his long bangs hid his facial features from the man's view. And after a few more moments of silence, Jiraiya finally had enough of it and was about to ask again but Naruto beat him to it.

"I don't want to hurt them."

This made the man raise an eyebrow and ask. "Who?"

"My friends, my comrades, my girlfriend, any of them. I know that this exam will give me a higher rank and I know its inevitable but I just don't want to fight the people I hold precious. I mean…it took me so long to finally be accepted by some of them and to just throw that away and harm or quite possibly kill them is something I don't think I can do."

"W-well I wouldn't go so far as to say killing them has to be an option to win. I mean, you know when to stop and I highly doubt someone you hold precious is so willing to kill you either."

"See that's the thing people don't understand! Most of the people I know that are participating _won't _stop, until they win or they die! How can I fight against someone who won't quit without risking fatal injuries or the high risk of accidentally killing them?"

Now it was Jiraiya's turn to play silent as glanced over at the frustrated blonde who was now clinching his fists tightly. He understood what was troubling the boy. Hell it didn't take a prodigy to realize what was going through his head, though you did have to be in the same kind of shoes as someone like Naruto. Being alone for so long made you hold onto people who you call friends very close to your heart and to have to push that aside and fight them was something very hard for him to do.

"Let me tell you something Naruto," said the man in a solemn tone. "Sometimes, the choice to do some things is a hard choice to make. Take for example you have a mission that must complete or Konoha will be leveled to the ground. On one hand you have the mission and on the other you have a dear friend that is fatally wounded and, if not treated soon, can die in your arms. Rationally, you must complete the mission, but your heart screams at you to save them. Now, what you decide to do is your choice and sometimes that choice can come back to haunt you for life. The point is, we all must do things we don't necessarily like, but it must be done."

Once the man's speech was over, Naruto gritted his teeth but understood what he meant. He didn't like it, but he knew what the old pervert said was the truth. He had a choice, a choice that was his alone and if that meant fighting his friends, it must be done.

"Sometimes I hate this life." Muttered the boy silently.

"You aren't the only one brat." Replied the man with a sigh. "But, if it makes you feel any better, know this. So long as you don't feel joy in hurting them and they understand why you did what you had to do, then they will never hate you for all you've done. Just don't go cutting peoples arms off an I can guarantee you that they will understand."

Both chuckled a bit at the last remark of the statement and, for Naruto, it did make him feel slightly better.

"Thanks Jiraiya." Said the boy with a grin.

"Anytime brat, now you better get going before your late."

"I have time."

"Not really, you only have fifteen minutes since the Hokage decided to start the exam early."

"WHAT! Why wasn't I told about this?"

"Last minute thing I guess." Replied the man with a shrug.

"Shit! I got to get going! Take care Jiraiya-san!" Shouted Naruto who was already mid-air and was currently dashing down the road towards the arena.

"Later brat!" Hollered out Jiraiya before muttering out. "And good luck to ya Naruto."

**End Flashback**

Shaking his head, Naruto turned his attention back onto the arena floor before responding. "I had some things I needed to take care of and I just lost track of time."

The boy spared the blonde a glance before shrugging and turning his attention back onto the arena floor as well.

"Hey Shikamaru," said Choji causing both him and Naruto to turn and face the plump boy who was currently munching on some chips. "who do you think is going to win?"

"Its troublesome but my best guess would have to be the Kumo one."

"Why do you say that?" Asked Naruto while narrowing his eyes a bit at the lazy Nara.

"Don't look at me like that Naruto," warned Shikamaru after catching the boys change in attitude. "Its nothing personal against your girlfriend but let's face it, we know little to nothing about the Kumo nin and she showed very little of her abilities during the preliminaries while Tenten, I think her name was, had showed most of what she could do just to beat her opponent. That leads me to believe that the Kumo nin has a higher chance of winning than your friend does."

Seeing the rationality behind Shikamaru's thinking, Naruto calmed down and was now glancing back at the two contestants in the ring. He couldn't deny that the boy had made a valid point and now that he put some thought into it, he wasn't sure himself of what Yugito was truly capable of since the two often went their separate ways to train in their own skills.

"We'll see." Muttered Naruto just as Haku began to speak.

"Chuunin Exam's second round, Tenten vs. Nii Yugito. You may begin!" Hollered out Haku before stepping out of the combat area.

Once the match was called to begin, both fighters jumped back to gain some distance from the other. Tenten though chose to toss a kunai during this time and not so surprised when the moment Yugito landed onto the ground, easily parried it. Upon landing herself, Tenten quickly rushed forward with fist cocked back ready to send a right hook to the blonde's jaw.

Needless to say she was surprised when Yugito leaned back to the point that she was only being held up by her now bent legs. Not missing a second, Yugito quickly placed one of her hands on the arena floor and twisting her body to deliver a strong kick to the opposing girl's ribs before using her arm to spring boarding herself up into the air and landing back onto her feet.

Tenten on the other hand winced do to the kick that had taken her by complete surprise. She never would have thought the girl was as nimble as she was but, she had been hit by stronger attacks so it wasn't all that bad on her. Upon seeing the girl land on the ground in a crouching position, Tenten hastily tossed two shurikens at the blonde, both of which were caught with relative ease.

"Is this all you have to offer me little girl?" sneered Yugito before flashing through a few seals.

"Not at all bitch!" resorted Tenten before tossing two black marble sized balls at Yugito's feet. Instantly the girl's

Instantly the blonde's vision was obscured by black smoke and cursed loudly. Forgoing her jutsu, she quickly rushed out of the cloud of smoke, only to find her opponent already finishing up her seals with two scrolls on both sides of her.

"_Soushouryuu!" _Hollered out Tenten as yet another screen of white smoke, followed by two dragon looking figures made out of smoke while spinning into their air. When the smoke cleared, two familiar scrolls took the smoke dragon's places as Tenten launched herself in the center of the vortex.

Yugito, who remembered this attack from the preliminaries, scowled as she ran to find cover before the girl began tossing the sharp projectiles at her. She knew better to try and deflect all of those weapons at once. That was Metaru's specialty, he would be able to something like that almost any day of the week but her, she knew that even trying to stop those weapon's all at once could give her a nasty injury that hinder her in this battle.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a slight sparkle in the sunlight and immediately somersaulted over three kunai that embedded themselves just inches away from where she once was. Cursing, she pumped chakra into her legs before rushing towards a nearby tree as more and more weapons lodged themselves into the ground right as she moved. Just as she was nearing the tree, a single kunai found its way into her leg and she hissed in pain as she skidded behind the bulky truck before quickly dislodging the kunai from her leg.

Glaring at the kunai, she was about to toss it aside when she noticed something that made her eyes widen. Wrapped around the handle of the sharp object, was an explosive note that was nearing the end of its timer. Looking back at the path of other kunai, she noticed that they two also had explosive notes attached to their handles as well.

From her spot in mid-air, Tenten smirked before forming a seal. Soon the sound of hissing could be heard all the way up to the stands as multiple explosive notes prepared to detonate. Then, not long after forming the seal, a loud chorus of explosions erupted inside the arena, causing several of the civilians and ninja alike to cover their ears.

"FUCK THAT'S LOUD!" Screamed Naruto as he collapsed onto the ground while clutching his now bleeding ears.

"Naruto!" Yelled a worried Choji as he crouched down beside Naruto. "You ok?"

"NO, MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!"

"We'll get you to a medic and have him help you out." Stated Shikamaru while also rubbing his ears.

"DON'T WORRY GUYS, MY HEALING Will- oh what do you know, I can hear again. Alright, no need to worry, I'm strait now."

"How can you be alright after having your eardrums burst? And what do you mean your healing will take care of it?" Asked Shikamaru with a raised eyebrow.

"I'll explain later, right now I need to know if Yugito-chan is ok."

'I doubt it.' Thought Shikamaru, but never the less he didn't say anymore about it.

Back on the arena floor, Tenten had just touched down on the ground once more and frowned. She didn't like the fact that she had just killed someone over something like this, but she was willing to do whatever it took to win her match. Beside's she was from Kumo and just because she was in Konoha for the exams didn't stop them from being enemies.

Walking over towards the multiple craters that now littered the arena floor, she glanced around to see if anything was left of the blonde haired woman. Yet, despite what her eyes told her, she had a strange feeling in her gut telling her that something was wrong. She was about walk away from the craters when a loud cracking sound was heard behind her. Turning around, she looked down at the bottom of the largest crater and saw a single crack beginning to extend. Just then, a yellow and black blur shot out of the ground before stopping right in front of her.

It was Yugito, whose outfit was now torn and battered with multiple singes and tears all over it, and was currently pointing her index and middle fingers at her with electricity flickering and crackling around them.

"_Raiton: __Rai Nami Taihou_!" yelled out the woman before firing her deadly sphere of lightning at the stunned weapon's mistress.

The crowd watched as the bolt of lightning collided with Tenten's body, causing the poor girl to go flying backwards. At that point, majority of the surveyors assumed that the match was over only to be proven wrong the moment Tenten burst into smoke to show a log with a gaping hole on its right side. Snarling, Yugito glanced around the arena while trying to pinpoint the girl's location via chakra signature.

"Show yourself you little bitch!"

Nothing changed as the wind picked up which caused a low whistle as it blew through the dead silent stadium. Suddenly, a single kunai came flying out of one of the bushes to Yugito's right. This however, did nothing to stop the blonde as she caught it without a second glance before charging it with electricity. It was then she let a feral smirk grace itself on her lips as she quickly whirled around and tossed the kunai at a tree not far away from her.

Once the kunai made contact with the tree trunk most didn't expect for it to pierce right through the it. Nor did they expect to hear a shriek of pain to come from the girl who was crouched behind the said trunk. At the sound of the shriek, Yugito grinned before rushing over as Tenten attempted to find a new position to hind at.

Poor girl was so distracted by the pain from her wound that she failed to notice the blonde's fist was now crackling with electricity. She was currently busy trying to not only find cover, but also to remove the sharp object in her shoulder only to pull her hand away as the electricity shocked her every time she tried to touch it. It wasn't until Yugito was in striking range that Tenten took notice to the now crackling limb that was cocked back and ready to strike.

With a small smirk on her lips, Yugito swung at the brunet and the moment she did, a small wave of blue electricity shot out at her opponent. Then, almost like a magnet, the blue lightning stuck the kunai in Tenten's shoulder and the girl let out a loud scream as more pain shot into her system, causing her to collapse onto the ground while twitching franticly.

"Do you like my _Kuuden Heki_ little girl?" asked Yugito smugly as she stood over the now twitching weapon's mistress who had somehow been able to glare up at her despite the blinding pain she was in at the moment.

Soon though, Yugito's face twisted into a frown as she raised her hand which was now flowing with more electricity than before. "Don't worry; I'll make this quick for you."

Knowing that another hit like that could possibly end her, Tenten used all the strength she could muster and swiftly swept the girl's feet out from under her before getting up and dashing away to find more cover. Yugito, who had thought the girl was now finished, didn't expect the girl to still be moving. But, before she could hit the ground, she quickly used her left hand to catch herself before she hit the ground and fired her attack at a random direction which was conveniently a tree which was now on fire do to the lightning hitting near the top of the tree causing the leaves to ignite.

Growling, Yugito pushed herself back up to her feet and whirled around to see Tenten removing her kunai while wincing do to the jolts of lightning still on the blade. Once she removed the kunai, the girl quickly crouched low and lifted the bottom of her pants legs to remove her weights. Seeing this, Yugito raced forward, with a third electrified limb cocked back and ready to strike. However, before the blond could reach striking distance, Tenten had already removed her weights the next thing Yugito knew, the girl was gone.

When she reappeared, she was still in crouching position with her fist already deep in Yugito's abdomen and was now glaring up at the blonde with a smirk on her face as she heard the girl gasp for breath. Yugito, who was rather surprised by this turn of events, lost focus in her jutsu and thus, the electricity that was once cracking around it was no longer visible. Suddenly, Yugito felt more punches land connect with her midsection, causing her to be lifted slightly into the air with each passing punch. Finally, after nearly receiving six of those powerful punches, Tenten delivered a powerful rising kick to her chin, causing the blond to go spinning backwards while occasionally skipping along the ground before finally skidding to a stop along the ground.

Feeling dizzy and disoriented, Yugito shakily returned to her feet and noticed Tenten rummaged through her pouch before pulling out a familiar looking scroll. Upon seeing the scroll, Yugito's eyes widened and before she could do anything to stop the brunet, the said girl had already unraveled it. A puff of smoke later, Tenten was held the sword in her hands and, almost as swiftly as she unraveled her scroll, she unsheathed her blade from its sheath.

Tossing the sheath aside, Tenten rushed forward with her black arched back behind her before swinging it in a horizontal swing. Ducking under the blade, Yugito made another attempt to counter attack with a kick to the girl's ribs, only to have it blocked by Tenten's leg. Pushing the limb away, Tenten brought her sword back into a stabbing position before thrusting it forward into her opponents shoulder.

Now it was Yugito's turn to scream as the blade dug deep into her flesh and bone. Gripping the blade, she tried to push the said weapon out of her only to hiss in more pain as Tenten removed it which ended up cutting the palm of her hand. Once the blade was removed, Tenten raised her blade over her head before swinging downward, aiming to finish the fight now that her opponent was wounded.

However, the moment she struck down the Kumo nin, a puff of smoke revealed what she had just struck was a log. Growling in annoyance, she searched the area for any signs of the blonde Kumo nin. Finding none, she raised her sword as her eyes darted in every direction, to make sure that the elusive kunoichi wasn't trying to sneak up on her. It was when she noticed the sun's rays being shadowed did she glanced upwards to see the blonde haired woman descending towards her with a kunai raised and ready to strike.

Cursing, Tenten raised her guard and blocked the descending blade with her own as Yugito put all her weight into her attack. The two struggled for a small second, before Yugito's feet finally touched down on the ground and was soon after being pushed back by the brunette's katana. Jumping back to gain some distance, Yugito quickly tossed her weapon her before going into a quick set of new seals.

Tenten, who had easily deflected the incoming projectile, rushed forward in an attempt to strike at her once more before her opponent could finish her seals. Sadly, she wasn't fast enough, as the woman finished her seals before smirking.

"_Raiton: Gian!_" muttered the woman before opening her maw. A few seconds later, lightning began to crackle and form a single sphere of blue electricity formed inside her mouth before firing a single bolt towards the quickly approaching swordswoman. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to move out of the way in time, Tenten took a blind leap of faith and twisted her body to her right, hoping that the lightning bolt would miss and zip passed her.

This time though, faith wasn't on her side, as she was still in the process of turning when the bolt of electricity struck her dead on her left arm and coursed through her entire arm causing the flesh on her arm to turn an unhealthy ashy gray color. This attack seemed to do two things, one it caused Tenten to scream in pain and clutch her arm tightly and two, it caused her two go twirling into the air and come crashing to the ground and tumbling a few feet away from her original position.

Now, Tenten could be seen rolling on the ground, clutching her now numb and bleeding arm in great pain while bighting down on her lip to keep herself from crying out in agony. From her position not far away, Yugito sighed as she really didn't want to resort to crippling blows but knew it couldn't be helped. This was a battle, and in a battle anything that got the job done was all that mattered.

"Nice try girl, but you stand no chance against me now that your arm is practically useless." Spoke Yugito coldly as she slowly made her advancement on the downed weapons mistress. "I just shot all the nerves in that arm, and now you can no longer use it for the remainder of your shinobi career. In other words, you lose girl."

Tenten glared fiercely up at the blonde as she stood over her. The sun's raises making it hard to see her facials expression was but her best guess, from what she assumed, was that the Kumo nin was now sneering down at her. Tightening her hold on the hilt of her sword, Tenten raised her weapon only to stab it into the earth and attempt to prop herself back up to her feet. Seeing this, Yugito sighed as she swiftly pulled out one of the few kunai she had left in her pouch before raising it into a defensive position. She knew very well she could just end it now, but seeing as how the match was already hers she decided to humor the girl as she tried in vain to continue fighting.

After a few failed attempts, Tenten had finally managed to return to her feet if only to gasp in pain do to the effects of her wounds. Currently, she was standing hunched over with her left arm hanging limply on her side as blood oozed out of her fingernails while the stab wound on her shoulder that had been bleeding for the good potion of their scuffle, now soaked her pink sleeveless shirt which was now a crimson color more than bright pink. Glaring at the Kumo nin, Tenten removed her blade from the ground with only good arm before settling into a new stance, one that even Naruto himself didn't recognized.

'This will decide everything,' Thought Tenten gravely as she gripped her sword tighter. 'I just hope its enough.'

Her stance, now consisted of her sword positioned in front of her in a vertical angle while the blade end of the weapon was pointing away from Yugito. The rest of her poster was completely strait with the only exception being her legs which were parted by only eleven inches.

"_Kenjutsu:_" muttered the girl before switching the blade until it was back to facing Yugito. It was then that a familiar burst of chakra erupted from Tenten's body, causing Lee up in the stands to gasp. "_Hyaku Genwaku Kirinuki_!"

The moment those words left her lips, Tenten vanished from the line of sight. The only signification that she was even there was the ring of dirt and dust that had been kicked up from Tenten's quick movements. Suddenly, quick flashes of silver surrounded the now still Yugito as more and more rings of dirt and dust were kicked up around her. Finally, when Tenten did reappear, she was in on one knee with her sword stabbed into the ground while panting heavily do to the now blinding pain she was in.

A few seconds passed, and people started to wonder if anything had happened while Yugito had still yet to move. What happened next surprised everyone, even Yugito, as a long line of blood shot out of her chest along with multiple other cuts that suddenly started to bleed ferociously. Hell even her braid had come undone causing her long blonde hair to spray along her back as she fell to her knees as well. Yet, despite all the cuts and such, Yugito didn't scream, she couldn't since the wounds had appeared so quickly, that her pain receptors had yet to notice that she had been injured.

That didn't last long, as a minute later, the woman shrieked in pain while Nibi quickly tired to repair most of the damage that had been done to her. Tenten, who had been too concerned about her own wounds, smirked as she looked over at the now bleeding form of Yugito.

You see the technique that Tenten had just used was one of her own creations. At first it was simply a mass of quick swings which utilized her quick speeds and movement to try and hit her opponents from all sides. She soon realized, after practicing the technique a few times, that she would never reach the required speed necessary to perform the attack successfully. It was at that point, Tenten took to using the _Kaimon_ gate in hopes of better results.

Needless to say, she received results, but with it came the price of total exhaustion afterwards, much like how Lee would be after performing his _Omote Renge_. After testing it a few more times, she and Gai had classified it as a B-rank jutsu and was not to be used unless completely necessary. Today had been her first attempt on using it on an actual opponent and she was quite willing to say that she enjoyed the results. Even if she was one arm short, the attack still went rather smoothly in her favor.

Suddenly, the sight and sound of crackling electricity could be detected coming from Yugito as she turned to face the brunette with all ten of her fingers spread out with electricity flickering off each one.

"Stupid cunt! _Raiton: Seme Denkishiki Senbon_!" Hollered out the woman before a volley of small blue needles shot towards Tenten. Being in the position she was in now, Tenten could do nothing as the projectiles struck her in the back, causing her to fall forward onto the ground and scream in even more pain. But, Yugito wasn't much better off either as the moment she launched her attack, she too fell onto the ground as the last of her chakra was used up in her last attack. She guessed that if she really tried, she could barely add an electrical current to a kunai and even then, it wouldn't last but for one use.

Using what was left of her strength, Yugito turned to see Tenten was now twitching from her spot about a few feet away from her. Then, to the astonishment of everyone, Tenten steadily tried to return to her feet while wincing and twitching in pain every time she moved.

'Annoying bitch stay down!' Raged Yugito as she felt some of Nibi's demonic chakra beginning to take over her. Shaking her head, Yugito too shakily and steadily returned to her feet while panting heavily do to her fatigue. When both fighters were back on their feet, both were panting, sweating, and over all looked like hell. After a few seconds of catching their respective breaths, both stared at each other for a good minute before nodding to each other like some sort of silent message was being sent to the other. Both knew that they were at their limit, and they also knew this last attack was going to be the finisher.

So both quickly grabbed hold of their weapons of choice Tenten her katana and Yugito her very last kunai. Both stood in silence for yet another moment before suddenly charging towards each other with a loud battle-cry and their weapon's reared back and ready for their last strike. As they drew closer, Yugito channeled the last of her elemental chakra into the blade of her kunai and in a quick flash, both stopped about two or three feet away form the other with their weapon's pointed outwards. For that one moment, time slowed down as both contestants stood stiff as statues before a loud cracking noise could be heard.

Tenten's weary eyes glanced at the tip of her sword to see that the tip of her blade was no longer there, and was embedded into the ground while more fragments of her katana began to fall to the arena floor to join the tip. After seeing this, Tenten could no longer fight off her wiriness any longer and as her grip on her sword loosened and her body began to fall to the floor, the brunette could only mutter one thing before the world around her began to fade away.

"Damn it."

As she fell, Yugito took the time to sigh before catching herself from slipping and falling to the arena floor herself. Careful not to slip up and collapse, Yugito turned to see a red blur drop down and catch the weapon mistress before she could hit the ground. She didn't need to see his face to know who it was and quickly moved her attention elsewhere in hopes that Naruto wouldn't say anything to her.

The said boy stared down at Tenten's unconscious form as he switched her position to where he was holding her bridal style with her front facing him. And as he stared at her now bleeding and broken form, everything around him was practically drowned out, so when Haku announced Yugito the winner, he didn't even hear her nor the screaming of the fans watching the match. It pained him to see the girl in this condition and what made it worse was that he could still feel bits of electricity still flowing through her body along with the blood that was now soaking his hands. Glaring over at Yugito's back, he saw the girl flinch since he absentmindedly sent killing intent at the girl who had harmed one of his loved ones. Just as he was about to chew the girl out for doing this to his friend, his tenant decided to intervene.

'**Naruto-san, it would be unwise to comment on something you could perhaps later regret.' **Stated Taishou wisely and calmly.

Upon hearing this, Naruto stopped himself just as the words were about to leave his lips. Taishou had a point, as always, and if he was to say something about this he could very well destroy the friendship he shared with the fellow Jinchuuriki. As this came time mind, his killing intent began to disperse, causing Yugito to timidly turn her head to look at him. This made Naruto's eyes soften and was now mentally kicking himself for trying to take his anger out of one of his friends.

Sighing, Naruto quietly walked over towards Yugito, who had now been staring intently at the floor and refusing to look at Naruto directly. Once he was right in front of her, he stopped with Tenten still in his arms, and watched as Yugito would often glance up at his face before almost immediately looking back down at the ground.

After a few moments of this, the girl finally had enough courage to raise her head to speak. Yet the moment she looked into his eyes, those endless slitted sapphire orbs called his eyes, all her courage was lost, and all she could do was stare into those shiny blue eyes of his.

It was in that moment, she understood what he was trying to do. It was similar to how her and the brunette had communicated during the last moments of battle. It didn't require words, only one look into the others eyes was enough to understand what was going through the others head. Well, that wasn't always the case, but still that was the case then and its still the same case now.

Naruto wasn't upset with her, that was all she could gather from that look. He wasn't blaming her, he wasn't spiteful at her, and in fact the only thing she could tell was that he was rather upset for his loved one being as injured as she was. That one, Yugito actually had to keep herself from looking away in shame.

Then, with no words escaping his lips, the boy walked passed her towards one of the arriving medics who were carrying stretchers along with multiple medical items. Placing the weapon's mistress onto the stretcher, he was about to go when a hand gripped the sleeve of his cloak. Looking down, he saw his beloved Tenten staring up at him with a soft smile plastered onto her features as she looked up at him.

"N-Naruto-kun," spoke the girl in a soft tone. "D-d-did I do a good job?"

Smirking, Naruto crouched down to where he was about where her head was before kissing her on the forehead. "You did great Ten-chan."

The girl's smile widened a bit before closing her eyes and sighing contently. Standing back up, he nodded towards the medics, who were now looking at Naruto in a way the boy was not familiar with, before the hurried off to heal the severely injured young woman. Looking over at Yugito, he saw that she was being healed by none other than Haku, who had already finished healing up majority of her cuts and was currently working on the giant gash on her chest.

Walking over towards Tenten's now broken sword, he picked up the katana and the sheath before sheathing the blade back into its scabbard. Picking up the tip that had been broken off, Naruto quickly whipped out a scroll, unraveled it before sealing it and the katana inside his own storage seal before re-raveling it and putting it back into its pouch.

"The next match will be Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari, please report to the arena now!" called Haku as she finished healing Yugito's wounds.

As Yugito made a move to walk towards the balcony staircase however, she felt herself go wobbly as her chakra exhaustion was still causing her to feel a bit woozy. Just when she thought her legs were about to give out on her, a strong clawed hand grabbed hold of her arm and placed it around his shoulders. Yugito didn't even need to look to see who was helping her, and couldn't help but smile happily at being close to him again. Later, when Nibi would start teasing her about this incident, she would not be so quick to shy away but instead smile brighter than ever as she proclaimed that she did enjoy moments like these.

'Damn you Uzumaki,' Thought the girl with a small blush on her cheeks. 'you definitely know how to make people fall for you.'

**Outside the Village walls**

The Anbu who had arrived to patrol the area could only gape behind their masks at the sight of what was before them. What they saw was clearly a battleground with multiple bodes littering the ground ranging from Suna to Oto nin laying lifelessly almost everywhere. Along with a few craters, deeply gashed trees, and trench which disappeared into the forest. Inside one of the said craters was a single mangled and torn body of a helpless Oto Jounin and in the other was what was left of a Suna Chuunin.

In the center of all this, stood a lone Anbu garbed in a standard Anbu cloak and mask who was currently dislodging a kunai from the last of the living Suna ninja. Glancing up at the group of four Anbu, the person slowly relaxed as they wiped away the blood that was still remaining on the kunai. A second after weapon was put away, another blur alerted the others that someone else had arrived. Glancing over, the four Anbu saluted to the newly arrived Anbu who was garbed in a white trench coat and a baboon mask.

"State your name Anbu," Spoke the man calmly. "otherwise you will be regarded as a threat and will be eliminated immediately."

The Anbu didn't move one inch, or regard the fact that the captain wasn't even talking to them. The person silently walked over towards them with their hands in their pockets as the other four Anbu quickly drew their weapons. Again, the person didn't take notice to this and instead continued on their way towards the captain. When the person was not but three feet away from the said man did they stop his/her advance.

Blank hunter mask stared at the red painted baboon mask in silence for a moment as the other Anbu stood ready in a squire formation around the person. Then, after another long moment of tense silence, the Anbu reached into their pouch and pulled out a slip of paper and held it out for the captain to take. Raising an eyebrow under his mask, he held his hand up in the air to make his squad stand down before taking the folded paper and opening it. Upon reading its contents, he quickly raised his head up in alarm only to see the still silent Anbu nod.

"New orders as of immediately, two units gather as many of the stationed Jounin and Chuunin surrounding the village walls and order them to engage any and all Suna and Oto ninja at these locations. The other two head to Anbu headquarters and gather five other squads to assist. I will inform the Hokage about this and wait about further orders."

After showing his men the locations, the four Anbu dashed off to proceed with their orders. The captain however, stayed at the clearing as he stared back at the still silent Anbu in front of him.

"Who are you?" asked the man as he eyed the person in front of him with great curiosity.

The person continued to say nothing, only stare back at him through their mask. Finally, the person walked up close to him, till they were right next to them.

"You have orders to carry out yourself...captain." said the person, who the captain found was female, before disappearing in a whirl of leaves.

The said captain only stood stiff for a moment before shaking his head and dashing of towards the arena. The woman was right, he had his own priorities and he could not afford to sit around. But, as he dashed through the trees nearing into the village, he only had one thought stuck in his head that wouldn't stop popping up.

'Who was that woman?'

* * *

_Soushouryuu _- Twin Rising Dragons

_Raiton: Rai Nami Taihou _- Lightning Release: Lightning Wave Cannon

_Kuuden Heki_ - Static Burst

_Raiton: Gian - _Lightning Release: False Darkness

_Kenjutsu: Hyaku Genwaku Kirinuki -_ Blade Technique: A Hundred Dazzling Cuts

_Raiton: Seme Denkishiki Senbon _- Barrage of Electrical Needles

There you go, hopefully this chapter has enough action for you people. Also, if you couldn't tell by now, Naruto and Jiraiya have a better relationship than they do in the anime. Personally I like the idea of Naruto having someone to go to whenever he doesn't know what to do and Jiraiya just strikes me as the person you can go to and expect a honest answer from. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I lost part of my sanity while writing this chapter and I'm going to go nuts in about...3...2...1...

Me: Mwahahahaha! I did it again! Mwahahahaha! I'm a genius! None can rival the great SF88 not even Jiraiya-sama! (Bless is perverted soul) Mwahahahaha!

Naruto: I think he's lost it.

Yugito: No shit...

Gaara: Mother...he's scaring me.

Killer Bee: Naw man, I get the same way after I eat some good pancakes.

Me: ....

Naruto: ....

Yugito: ....

Gaara: ....

Killer Bee: What?

Me: R&R or I'll tie you to a chair while Killer Bee busts his rhymes on you...and eats pancakes in front of you. (Naruto, Yugito, and Gaara all snicker)

Killer Bee: Shut up, pancakes are awesome!

Naruto: Yeah they're pretty good.


	17. Big Boned vs the Flame of Youth

Yo people! Sorry that this chapter took so long to get out but, what can I say, this wasn't easy for me to write. Now, do to the fact that you guys have been waiting for so long, I'm pleased to announce that the next chapter will be out by the beginning of next week. That's a promise and like Naruto, I don't break my promises. Anyway, I'm going to skip over the other boring crap and get on with the story.

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_ Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

"My head hurts just watching all that," mumbled Naruto while rubbing his head franticly.

Next to him, Choji was nodding his head in agreement as he too was having trouble following Shikamaru and Temari's fight. Over the course of their battle, both opponents utilized their great strategic minds to try and gain a decisive edge. Most of the time, it was a challenge of who was smarter than the other, and surprisingly enough, it was Shikamaru who ended up trapping the Suna kunoichi only to forfeit once he captured her in his _Kage Mane no Jutsu. _

This of course made almost everyone pissed off at the lazy Nin since at first most thought that the match was going to be boring compared to the others. Though most did enjoy the battle once things got heated up, it still made them a tad annoyed that after all the strategizing, traps, and quick thinking that he put into the match he gave up so readily.

Still, it had been entertaining, though for Naruto and a few others it was rather difficult to comprehend all that had occurred.

"You ok Naruto-kun?" asked someone behind him.

Turning around to face the voice, Naruto and Choji blushed at the sight of Yugito in a tight fitting blue shirt and loose pants with her hair still unbounded which now stopped to about her lower back. Her old attire had been completely drenched with blood and sweat along with the multiple cuts on her clothing making most of her assets visible.

"Y-yeah fine," stammered the boy, "Where did you get that outfit though?"

Blinking, Yugito stared down at her outfit for a moment before scoffing. "The medics didn't have anything else better than this and I sure as hell wasn't going to be wearing my old clothes with the damage that was done to them. Why?"

Blushing a bit more, Naruto shook his head before taking off his cloak once more and handing it to her. "'Cause people are starting to stare."

Eyes narrowing, she glanced around the waiting room to see all the males currently in the room turning their heads hastily away so as not to be caught by her gaze. Taking the cloak she put it on and quickly covered herself.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, Naruto turned towards the direction of the stairs to see Shikamaru steadily walk up the stairs with both hands in his pockets. Not far behind him was Temari, who was currently glaring at the back of the boy's skull with great intensity.

"Shikamaru!" yelled Naruto before running up to him. Surprised, the said boy glanced up at him, only to have a fist delivered to his head causing him to go crashing down into the ground. "What the hell is wrong with you!" finished the blonde while glaring down at him with his fist still raised in frustration and a tad bit of anger.

From his position on the ground, Naruto could hear the faint mumble of the boy replying, "Troublesome" before heaving himself up to his feet.

"Lazy bastard, you could have won! Why didn't you?"

Glaring back at the blonde, Shikamaru just sighed before putting his hands back into his pockets. "I didn't have enough chakra to do anything else but trap her. Even if I did have more chakra to use I wouldn't be able to do anything since her movements are the same as mine. Besides, I don't like hitting girls, no matter how troublesome they are."

Staring at back at the boy with annoyance clearly visible on his features, Naruto had to admit he had somewhat of a point. It still didn't mean he had to like it none the less.

"Whatever," grumbled the blonde before bringing his hand out and breaking out into a grin. "Good job anyway, ya sexist bum."

Grunting, Shikamaru shook the boy's hand before walking over towards where Choji was at before leaning over on the railing and started talking to his childhood friend. Temari, who was just about to go back to where her brother was standing, was stopped by Naruto, who was still grinning and had his hand outstretched towards her.

"Good job to you too Temari-chan! I had no idea you were such a strategist."

Blushing a bit at the compliment, she gave him a small smile before shaking his hand and replying "Thank you Naruto-san," before heading over towards Gaara. Though she had expected the congratulation to his comrade, she wasn't expecting him to congratulate her on her victory as well. It was rather nice since, at least in Suna, not a lot of people gave her complements like this since most expected as much from the Kazekage's daughter.

Suddenly, Haku's voice announced the next participants to come to the arena floor. Gulping, Choji headed towards the stairs followed by Lee who's eyes were now blazing with anticipation. Once both parties were on the arena floor, the crowd grew silent as they waited for the match to begin.

Grinning, Lee grabbed hold of his cloak before tossing it off. Most saw that he was still wearing his green spandex outfit, or at least the top part of it, but the bottom part he wore black baggy shinobi pants with matching black sandals with his Haiti-ate still wrapped around his waist like a belt.

After much pleading and begging from Kagari, Lee had decided to alter his outfit a tad bit for her and everyone else's sake. Course, he still refused to completely rid himself of his green spandex which is why he still wore it under the black pants. Yet none could say they didn't like the change, in fact some of the young girls in the crowd were now staring at the bowl cut boy with a tad bit of interest, much to Kagari's annoyance.

"This should be quick," mumbled a man sitting next to Ino and Sakura.

Glaring at the man next to her, Ino turned her attention back onto the arena before shouting, "CHOJI! KICK HIS ASS YOU BIG FATTY!"

'Bitch,' thought Naruto while rubbing his ears in irritation.

"Akimichi Choji vs. Rock Lee… begin!"

With that Lee rushed forward in a quick burst of speed which had covered the distance between the two in less than thirty seconds. The boy then leaped into the air and began to spin, preparing to begin his signature attack when Choji suddenly inhaled a great amount of air into his lungs.

"_Konoha Senpuu_!" shouted Lee while ignoring the strange actions of the plump boy in front of him.

Yet, before his kick could connect with its target, Choji's body expanded into that of a large sphere shape. To Lee's surprise, the moment his kick landed on the expanded body, his leg literally sunk into the boy's stomach. Feeling the boy's body beginning to roll forward, Lee quickly pried his foot out of the Akimichi's gut and dash back just in time to avoid getting crushed by the big boned boy's _Nikudan Sensha _attack.

Up in the stands, Asuma was smirking down at this scene while Kurenai was staring at the boy in amazement.

"When did he learn to do that?" she asked as she watched Lee avoid the human steam roller known as Choji.

"Simple, during his entire month of training he had been building up his chakra reserves to where he could perform more of the Akimichi clan's jutsu. Choza said that he had also learned a rather unique way to perform a few of them without the need of seals though it takes up more chakra than it would normally. However for some of the more advanced jutsu he must use seals but it's gotten to the point that he can do something like this with little trouble."

Back down in the arena, Lee was finding it harder and harder to attack the plump boy since every time he made an attempt to attack the boy would expand and it would either bounce his attack away or his limbs would sink into his body, thus making it impossible to actually do any form of damage to his opponent.

Deciding to try a new tactic, Lee led Choji over towards the stadium wall and waited at the plump boy came closer towards him. The moment Lee entered the boy's shadow, he sped off towards the right which caused Choji to go crashing to the wall causing a small crater to form while a cloud of dust kicked up from the impact.

When the dust cleared it showed Choji back to normal while clutching his head due to the dizziness that came from spinning for about three or four minutes. Seeing his chance, Lee rushed forward and delivered a powerful punch to the still dazed Akimichi which caused the boy to be sent flying a few feet away.

Nursing his now bruised cheek, Choji looked up only to find Lee mid-air with his leg raised in a high arc. Eyes widening, Choji raised both his arms up to block the attack as Lee's heel came crashing down upon him. His block however was futile as a great amount of pressure delivered to his arms causing them to buckle and to be then bashed into the ground with such force that a few rocks and dirt were kicked up upon its connection.

Jumping back, Lee waited for the debris to settle to see what kind of condition the boy was in. What he didn't expect was for a giant fist to come flying out of the dust a few moments later and punch him hard in the chest which resulted in him being sent flying into the air. Luckily, he was able to regain his awareness to flip himself mid-air and go skidding across the ground without injuring himself feather.

Staring at the spot Choji was still at, he found the boy's now gigantic appendage now returning to its normal length. Glaring at the bowl cut youth in front of him, Choji focused more chakra into both his arms before launching them at Lee, who easily evaded both attacks. Seeing as how he didn't want to be hit again by the Taijutsu specialist, Choji focused more chakra into his leg and sent a kick to the quickly approaching Genin.

Not expecting this, Lee was hit full force by yet another of Choji's enlarged limbs and due to his own advancement and the force of Choji's kick, resulted in a more devastating attack. That said, it was no surprise when Lee went flying across the field and into the stadium wall where multiple cracks formed from his impact.

Groaning, Lee pulled himself off the wall only to notice that the sun's rays were being blocked. Looking up, his eyes widened as Choji's once again bloated body descended upon him. Leaping to the side to avoid the attack, a loud crash could be heard followed by a loud puffing noise signifying that Choji's jutsu had just been canceled.

Hastily returning to his feet, Lee quickly rushed towards the new crater Choji had made. When yet another of the boy's enlarged fists came flying out at him, he was able to quickly duck under it before jumping onto the appendage and ran along the arm and towards the surprised boy's face.

"_Konoha Senpuu_!" yelled Lee before spinning his body and performing a roundhouse kick to the plump boy's face.

This caused Choji to stumble black a few steps and for Lee, that was all he needed as he immediately dropped down and followed up his previous attack with a knee to the boy's stomach which knocked the air out of the unfortunate Akimichi's lungs. Once he was hunched forward Lee continued his onslaught as he quickly stepped back and delivered a swift upward kick to the chubby boy's chin, sending him onto his back.

Taking this opportunity to end the match, Lee quickly bent down, pulled his pants legs up and began to remove his weights while Choji was still on the ground. Once both weights were removed, Lee grinned before disappearing from view. When he reappeared his fist was embedded deep into Choji's abdomen once more while the said boy gasped in pain. Not finished with his attack, Lee ducked down, grabbed hold of Choji's ankle and with great amount of effort on his part, heaved the tubby boy into the air and started spinning in place with his hand still firmly clasped on Choji's ankle.

After a few more spins, Lee let go causing Choji to be sent flying towards the center of the arena with Lee hot on his trail. And just when the boy was about a few feet away from the ground, Lee's leg connected with his back sending Choji souring into the air once more.

Now all Choji could feel was pain, unimaginable pain erupting from his body and even as he was in mid-air he could tell that what was going to be happening next. His guess was right as a moment later, he felt Lee's bandages wrapping themselves around his body before tightening in a vise grip. Knowing full well what this attack would do to him should he connect with the ground, Choji focused chakra into his stomach once again. A second later, Choji's form bloated and the bandages that were once secured around his body were now tearing and ripping to pieces do to the sudden growth.

Lee however, expected this and with this knowledge, he released his hold on the boy before twisting himself mid-air and delivering another roundhouse kick to the boy's side, causing the giant ball of flab to be sent flying towards the arena wall.

A loud crash followed by dust later, Choji's form came falling out the cloud of dust towards the arena floor before crashing onto the floor with a loud thud. After touching down, Lee stood still as he waited to see if the boy could still fight.

A few moments of waiting, Haku was about to check the boy's static when his body suddenly jerked. A few more jerks later, Choji's form started to rise from its position faced down on the arena floor, albeit shakily at first. Once the boy was back on his feet, it showed that his nose was now bleeding profusely while his headband had fallen off in his attempt to return to his feet.

'I have no choice, now,' thought Choji solemnly as he reached into his pouch. 'I guess I will have to use these after all.'

Finding the object he was looking for, he grabbed it and retracted his hand to reveal something that made Shikamaru, Asuma, and Choza's eyes widen. What the boy was now holding was a glass container which held three pills one green, one blue, and one red. Not saying a word, Choji opened the lid to the green pill before taking it into his hand and popping it into his mouth.

A few moments later, almost everyone in the arena took notice to the great increase of chakra that was now visibly flowing off the Akimichi's body. Lee, who had not expected this, was amazed by the staggering amount of chakra now radiating off his opponent's body. Choji smirked a bit at his surprised look and took off towards him while pumping his newly acquired energy into his legs to increase his speed by a great amount. Upon a close enough distance, he leaped up into the air and launched an enlarged arm towards his opponent.

Seeing this coming, Lee jumped to the side, avoiding the large appendage rather easily and appeared behind the big boned boy. What he didn't expect was for Choji's open palm to adhere to the ground and stop his mid-air descent, causing him to stay in the air for a few more moments. Those few moments were all Choji needed to spring-board himself backwards while pumping chakra into the center of his body, turning him back into his sphere like appearance.

Lee was taken utterly by surprise when the sphere-like boy collided with him. Fortunately, he was merely slammed into, rather than getting trampled and crushed by the tremendous weight. That, however, wasn't to say that this maneuver wasn't harmful, as both Lee and Choji crashed into the arena wall causing some to wonder about Lee's condition.

Up in the stands, Naruto was staring intently at the spot in which Lee and Choji were stationed. He could feel his heart pounding in hopes that Lee was ok. True, Choji was also one of his friends, but Lee was someone he could openly call his comrade, his rival, and even a best friend. And with each passing second that he couldn't tell about Lee's condition, the more worried he got.

Not far away, Kagari was also at the edge of her seat with worry. She had to hold back the urge to go down to the arena and pound the living daylights out of Choji for this. She herself knew very well what the Akimichi were capable of and seeing as how Choji was doing only made her worry more.

"Please be ok, Lee-kun," plead the girl silently, which drew the attention of two of the people sitting to her left. To be more specific, it was the familiar faces of both Sakura and Ino, both of which were able to faintly hear her plea.

When the dust cleared, it showed Choji, who was still in his sphere-like form, embedded into the wall with no signs of him moving. A few moments later, people could see the giant green ball steadily backing out of the hole. However, as his body came out further, it was shown that he wasn't coming out of his own free will, more so that he was being pushed out of the hole by Lee, who was sweating profusely due to his great efforts.

People also took notice that Choji was attempting to spin in place, yet was not moving a single inch. Finally, after an intense struggle, Lee made one last great push before dashing out of the way just as Choji slammed back into the wall. Gasping in exhaustion, Lee looked at his hands and could feel the skin on them burn in pain due to the friction from Choji's advancement. Glancing back at the said boy, he noticed that he was no longer in his bloated state and was currently preparing for yet another attack.

'I cannot afford to take anymore attacks like that last,' thought Lee before dodging another gigantic fist coming towards him. 'I must end this, soon.'

Rushing forward Lee began to circle the boy who had reverted back into his regular appearance, while carefully avoiding the attacks that the boy was sending his way as he went. After a few moments of this, he watched as Choji bloated back into his sphere form, thus forcing him to rethink his plan of attack. It was at that point he noticed that the once blazing chakra once surrounding the boy was steadily beginning to drop down. Looking at Choji, he could tell that the boy was obviously straining himself greatly as his face was now pouring with sweat and his expression made him look as though he was in great pain.

Seeing this, Lee decided it was time to take action as this was a good chance to hopefully do some sort of damage. After circling around the boy one last time, he found his opening and rushed forward towards Choji's front. Having not been able to track the boy's exact location, this sudden frontal assault completely caught him off guard and thus, was not prepared for the obviously faster boy's charge.

"_Konoha Senpuu_!"

Jumping in the air, the boy quickly twisted his body midway towards Choji before sending a powerful roundhouse kick to the boy's face yet again. And due to the force put into the attack, Choji was sent flying while still in his sphere form and crashed several times into the ground. Not only that, but considering the fact that he was practically a human bolder, when he did finally hit the ground, instead of skidding to a stop like normal he was sent rolling into the arena wall once more.

Lee watched as Choji's body was engulfed in smoke before returning to his original shape while gripping his now bleeding head. Even though his expanded body had absorbed most of the damage done to him, it didn't reduce the damage done to him from not only the kick, but also from the impact he made on the wall.

That wasn't all that he was feeling pain from, it was also the result of the pill he had taken before. Normally, he was forbidden to use them since the result of eating all three pills could easily kill him. Yet he knew that for this specific fight, he needed as much of a boost as he could get.

'Dad's going to kill me for this,' thought the boy gravely as he pulled out the same container before taking out the blue pill.

Lee's eyes widened for a brief moment before rushing forward in hopes of stopping the boy before he could devour the strange pill. Yet he wasn't fast enough as the moment he came into striking distance for his Konoha Senpuu, Choji already had the object in his mouth and was chewing on it.

Striking out at the boy, Lee was shocked when Choji effortlessly grabbed the boy's ankle before his foot could connect with him. Once grabbed, the boy quickly slammed Lee into the ground before jumping up high into the air. Forming a few seals he could feel the majority of the chakra he had just gained being drained from him. He knew the risks of this, and he knew that if this didn't work then he was done as using the last pill wasn't an option for him.

Asuma, who had been watching this with great intensity if his unlit cigarette was proof enough, recognized the seals for the jutsu the boy was preparing to do and stared wide eyed.

'He hasn't mastered that jutsu yet! Why is he using it now?' raged the man while gripping the edge of the armrest with great force. Kurenai, who had seen this, decided not to ask as whatever was bothering the man beside her was due only because of what the boy's jutsu was.

After completing his seals, the boy grinned before feeling his body beginning to expand slowly. "_Chou Baika no Jutsu_!"

Lee was floor at what he saw, as was everyone else in the stadium. Choji's body soon began to grow to enormous proportions, hell he was so big that he almost didn't fit into the area and the place was huge on its own. Though it wasn't complete, he was still a giant and was still descending towards Lee's shocked form. Shaking himself out of it, Lee quickly returned to his feet before doing the only thing he could do at this point.

Run.

Run as fast as his body would allow, and with Choji's gigantic shadow still hovering above him, he was soon going to be flattened if he didn't get out of the way in time. Glancing up, he wished he didn't as Choji was now only fifty meters away from landing and he had about ten more meters to run. Realizing that he wouldn't make it at this rate, he quickly released the _Kaimon_ gate before feeling his own rush of chakra flooding his system. And in a burst of speed, he had quickly halved the distance and was nearly in the safe zone until he glanced back up. Choji was now only less than twenty feet away from him and was rapidly descending towards him.

In a last ditch effort, Lee took a dive towards the edge of the boy's shadow and not a second later, a loud crash along with what felt like an earthquake shook the arena floor causing dust, dirt and other things to be scattered though out the arena causing some to shield their eyes.

When the arena stopped shaking only one thing could be heard though the stadium. A loud and bloody scream of intense pain coming from inside the cloud of dust. When the cloud dispersed it showed Lee laying on the ground with one of his legs trapped underneath the giant's right side. A second later, a giant cloud of smoke alerted the crowd that Choji's jutsu had worn off and when it cleared, it showed Choji laying on the ground while groaning loudly do to the aftereffects of using yet another of the pills.

Lee on the other hand was thrashing around on the ground while gripping onto his now crushed leg. He couldn't feel any of his bones in his lower leg anymore; even the ones in his foot were crushed in a great number of places. He was very fortunate that it was only one leg that had been crushed, otherwise he would have been in a much worse condition than he already was. Still, that little thought didn't help him much as the pain was still unbearable.

Staring at the two now downed opponents, both who were in extreme pain at the moment, Haku went to check up on both parties condition. Choji was now unconscious with Chakra exhaustion caused by the pills' aftereffects, and Lee was unable to even stand.

But before the girl could call the match, Lee was now doing his best to stand, despite the fact that one of his legs was severely bleeding and broken in a great deal of places. At that point Naruto and Kagari both let out the breath that they had been holding for a great period of time.

"Winner by default, Rock Lee!" announced Haku which was followed by many cheers from the crowd.

Immediately, after calling the match, Haku rushed over towards the wounded Lee before forming a few seals. Seconds later, glowing green chakra began to surround her hands as she performed a diagnostic of Lee's leg. After checking it over a few times, she found that his leg was indeed broken, but still able to be healed, though it would take a great amount of time and effort, the operation could go really well if it was to be treated immediately.

Looking up, the girl found that the other medics were already carrying Choji away on a stretcher with another team on the way to pick up Lee. Sighing, she went to stand only to have someone appear behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she found a familiar brunette standing behind her with her eyes solely on Lee's form.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" asked the girl with a worried expression on her features.

Smiling, Haku gestured towards the youth loving boy and stepped out of the way. She saw the girl's eyes lighten up a bit as she smiled back before walking over towards Lee and helped him limp his way towards the medics.

"Lee-kun," began Kagari, causing Lee to face her, "Good job."

Lee was only able to smile tiredly as he was being placed onto the stretcher before being carried off towards the infirmary with Kagari following every step of the way. Up in the stands, Naruto could only watch this with a small smirk on his face as they disappeared from his line of vision.

"Aren't you going to see if he's ok, Naruto?" asked Shikamaru with a raised eyebrow.

"Naw, I think he's in good hands now. Besides," Naruto couldn't help but chuckle a bit at this point, "I wouldn't want to ruin those two's moment together."

It only took a few seconds for Shikamaru's eyebrows to raise in realization before sighing while muttering Troublesome under his breath. This caused Naruto's chuckle to turn into full blown laughter that caused Yugito to chuckle a bit as well. Who knew Naruto was a decent match-maker?

Suddenly, in the center of the arena, a strong gust of wind alerted everyone to some new arrivals. Turning his attention back on the ring, Naruto had to do his best not to roll his eyes at what he saw.

In the center of the arena was none other than Kakashi, with Sasuke standing behind him. The said boy's clothes no longer consisted of a blue shirt and white shorts. Now, he wore a black shirt with matching black shorts and sandals. White bandages now covered the lower part of both his legs along with his left arm, all of which looked to have black straps wrapping over top of the bandages. Overall he looked, at least in Naruto's opinion, rather odd. However to the countless fan-girls and civilians, he looked better than before causing a large ruckus of screaming girls calling out the boy's name.

Sparing Haku a look, Kakashi rubbed the back of his head as she, along with the Hokage and a few other Jounin and Chuunin, were staring at him with a disbelieving look on their faces.

"Are we late?" he asked sheepishly.

"N-no, you're… early," replied Haku in a disbelieving tone.

Up in the bleachers Sakura had her hands clapped together as if praying to Kami before muttering. "It's the end of world as we know it."

**Twenty Miles Away**

Kabuto scowled down at the body of the Anbu commander who had been sighted not long ago. Sure, he knew that he was supposed to be at the arena at now but, after hearing the reports of a squad being attacked, he was forced to leave his post and see if the invasion was still possible. It was by mere coincidence that he had stumbled across the commander making his way towards the arena at high speeds. So, after putting two and two together, he assumed that the man was going inform the Hokage about the situation and thus, ruin Orochimaru's plan.

So, now that he had dealt with the problem, there remained the mystery as to how they discovered the location to one of their invasion sites. Though the loss of that specific location didn't matter much, it still bothered him that someone had knowledge as to where they were aiming to begin their attack from.

Orochimaru made it very clear that traitors would be eliminated at even the slightest signs of betrayal. That being said, Kabuto highly doubted that someone from either Suna or Oto would be so foolish as to betray them after all the preparation they had put into this attack.

'Someone must be supplying the information about the attack,' thought the medic Nin with a scowl. 'The question is, who is it?'

Sighing, Kabuto glanced back at the dead body that lay sprawled out on the rooftop of the building he was standing on, he scowled before torching the body with a low level Katon jutsu before rushing back to his post. He couldn't dwell on the traitor at the moment, he needed to be prepared for the beginning of the invasion and afterwards he would report it.

* * *

_Kage Mane no Jutsu - _Shadow Imitation Technique

_Konoha Senpuu - _Leaf Whirlwind

_Nikudan Sensha - _Human Bullet Tank

_Chou Baika no Jutsu - _Super Multi-Size Technique

_Kaimon _- Opening Gate

Well, their you guys are, my biggest headace in god knows how long. I'm not kidding here, I HATED writing this chapter not because of who were fighting, but because I wanted to make it less one-sided than it would have been in the canon. Over all, it was stressful and I found myself putting this off multiple times just so I wouldn't have to deal with it. But I pulled through and I'm almost done with my next chapter, so let it be known that I'm making it up to all of those who I have kept waiting.

Naruto: (Mutters) Ass hole.

Me: What! Do you want me to turn you into a fox again?!

Yugito: (Blushes) He looked so cute then.

Gaara: He didn't talk much...those were peaceful times.

Naruto: SHUT UP GAARA!

Killer Bee: Man, if you did that again I would add to my list of favorit people in the world.

Me: How many people are on that list?

Killer Bee: Just two.

Naruto: Who are they?

Yugito: (Smacks forehead) Mrs. Butterworth and Aunt Jemima

Me: (Blinks) ....

Naruto: (Stares) ....

Gaara: (Sweatdrops) ....

Me: SWEET! I'll get right on it!

Naruto runs off with me right on his heals with an auther's inchanted stick in hand.

Yugito: (Crosses fingers) Almost, almost, almost, almost, almost-

Naruto: NOOOOO!!!!!! (Turns into a small kit)

Yugito: (Squeels) Yes!

Now R&R or I'll turn you into your worst nightmare! For I am the auther, an all powerful being that can turn people into foxes, rabbits and much more! HAHAHAHAHA FEAR ME!!!


	18. The Fifth Match and The Invasion Begins

Yo! Well, it wasn't on Monday, but it was out quicker than my other updates. Would you believe me if I said that right after I sent out the last chapter I had started this and finished it withen two days? Well, I did, and I checked it over a few times to make sure it wasn't sloppy. Anyway, my beta is more than likely celebrating the holidays so I'm sending this one out ahead of time. When he gets back, I'll be replacing this so if their are any spelling errors then don't worry, it will be taken care of. So anyway, here it is and I hope you all enjoy it.

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_ Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Sasuke wasn't the type of person to laugh at anything, he would chuckle, but never outright laugh out in public. He was above all that, or at least that was what everyone assumed. So it was awkward when the young avenger burst out laughing upon hearing that Kakashi and him had arrived early. Half of his little fanclub began cooing loudly while Sakura, Ino, and pretty much all of the Rookie Nine who were in the stadium stood wide-eyed at him.

'I-is that really Sasuke?' was one of the many thoughts racing through the minds of each Genin who actually remembered Sasuke from the Academy days.

Kakashi on the other hand, looked down at the boy with a mild glare before whipping out his book and began reading in an attempt to ignore the boy. He didn't quite get what was so funny, so what if he had arrived early? It wasn't like it was anything special for him to come on time every once in a while, right?

After calming himself down a bit, he looked around in the stadium to find most of the civilians and ninja alike gawking at him. Noticing this, he straightened himself back to seriousness… and it would have fooled most if it had not been for the fact that he had a very light flush on his cheeks from embarrassment.

Just then a black and yellow blur landed on the arena floor before the familiar face of Naruto was standing in front of him with a disbelieving look on his features.

"W-were you really laughing just now or was I just hearing things?" asked the blonde while pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Yeah I was laughing," scoffed the dark haired boy. "So what?"

Naruto didn't answer for a moment, as he was a little too shocked to give an answer. Sasuke just glared at him throughout his pause as he was taking this a far out of proportion. He should know by now that everyone has their moments and it just so happened that today was one of his own, was it really that confusing?

Finally, Naruto seemed to get over it and was now grinning back at him with that annoying look on his face. But just as quickly as it appeared, it was replaced with a look of complete seriousness that Sasuke was starting to see a lot more often these days.

"Sasuke, be careful when you fight this guy alright? He reeks of blood and I'm not sure if it's fresh or not."

Hearing this, Sasuke's eyes widened briefly before his face returned to its former seriousness. "I'll keep that in mind."

Nodding, Naruto glanced over at his sensei before giving the man a small wave. The man waved back, making the blonde question how he knew he was waving at him when his only visible eye was glued to his book. Pushing that thought aside for pondering later, Naruto was about to head back up to the waiting room when suddenly a flurry of sand appeared not far behind him. When he turned it showed Gaara with his face twisted into a look of crazed anticipation rather unlike his normal emotionless expression. Seeing as how the match was about to begin, Naruto glanced back at his teammate one last time before heading up to the waiting room where Yugito and Shikamaru were waiting for him.

"You need to stop jumping down there you stage hog," growled Yugito in annoyance.

"As troublesome as it is, she has a point Naruto," stated Shikamaru while casting an annoyed look at his comrade as well. "Pick a spot and stay there."

Laughing sheepishly, Naruto simply waved the two off before leaning over on the railing while Shikamaru moved to a different location, most likely to take a nap after his battle. Feeling a new presence beside him, he glanced to his left and found Temari stationed were Shikamaru used to be and was currently looking down at her brother with great intensity.

"You alright, Temari-chan?"

"Huh?" asked the girl while turning her attention onto the blonde beside her.

"You looked a bit worried is all, just wanted to see if something was wrong."

"N-no I'm fine, just wanted to get a better view is all."

'I doubt that,' thought Naruto dryly as he looked back towards the arena floor where Sasuke and Gaara were stationed in the center with Haku standing between the two. Though, he knew he could have asked the Suna Nin why her brother reeked of blood he decided against it since he doubted he would receive a truthful answer. But one thing was for certain, she didn't walk up here to gain any sort of view, to him it looked like she was waiting for something, what that something was Naruto had no clue.

Back down in the arena, Sasuke stared back at the Suna Nin who had a crazed look in his eyes. And even though he would never admit to it, the way the Gaara was eyeing him freaked him out for a multitude of reasons. One of those key reasons was because what Naruto had told him was still fresh in his mind.

Why would someone smell of so much blood? Was that blood indeed freshly spilt like Naruto assumed? Could this boy actually succeed in killing him? Those were just some of the major thoughts going through his mind as he stared back into the empty green orbs called his eyes.

"Fourth round of the Chuunin Exam Finals. Sabaku no Gaara vs. Uchiha Sasuke… Begin!" announced Haku, before leaping back to safety.

Faster than the untrained eye could see, Sasuke quickly threw two shuriken at high speeds towards Gaara's motionless body. When said projectiles came about a few feet away from hitting him, a torrent of sand rose up faster than most would have expected. Soon, the sand began to form into that of a clone of the sand user while holding the two sharp objects in-between its fingers.

Seeing how throwing objects wasn't going to be doing much, Sasuke went into action and rushed toward Gaara. Seeing his opponent approaching him, the Suna Bunshin spread its arms out before yet another torrent of sand launched toward the dark clad boy. Seeing this, Sasuke leaped into the air, avoiding the surprise attack easily before digging into his pouch and tossing two more shuriken at the clone. Mimicking his movements, the clone tossed the pair it had caught causing both sets to collide in the air and falling to the ground.

As he was quickly descending upon said clone, Sasuke reared his leg back and sent a kick. Unfortunately, the clone had managed to avoid the blow which resulted in only his wrists being knocked off. Not finished with his onslaught, Sasuke quickly reached his hands out to skid along the ground until he was back to facing the clone and sent a backhand to the clone's throat.

The said clone's eyes widened briefly before it smirked as sand started to wrap around his wrist. Seeing this, he quickly delivered a palm to the clone's head, causing the sand to collapse back onto the ground. Rushing forward, Sasuke made an attempt to punch Gaara in the face only to have his punch blocked by the quick movements of Gaara's sand.

Cursing, Sasuke twisted his body to try and send a kick to the boy's ribcage only have another pillar of sand shoot up and block the attack. But, unlike his fist, the sand on his leg wrapped itself around his ankle before tossing him away a few feet. Flipping himself mid-air, he skidded to a stop only to summersault backwards as more of Gaara's sand crashed in the spot he had just been at. Seeing more sand heading towards him Sasuke whipped out a kunai, he slashed through it in an attempt to clear his way a bit. Yet no matter how many times he sliced through it, more sand would come shooting towards him.

Up in the stands, Naruto was watching this with great curiosity. "How is he able to control sand like that?"

"That is Gaara's _Suna no Tate_. It's basically a defense that stops most attacks from hitting him by using the sand from the gourd on his back. Though he can control it to a great degree, most of the time his sand protects him automatically."

"Soooo, it's a bloodline that uses sand as a shield?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Huh, wish I had something like that," mumbled Yugito before looking back at the arena floor.

'No you wouldn't,' thought Temari dryly before focusing back on the battle as well.

Cutting through yet another torrent of sand, Sasuke leaped high into the air before tossing his kunai at him while forming a set of seals. He waited for the sand to rise and protect Gaara before performing his jutsu.

"_Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu_!"

Gaara watched with an impassive look on his features as red hot flames came closer towards him. To the rest of the crowd watching, all they saw was Gaara staring at the flames before being engulfed in the flames. But if anything was learned during this exam, it was that just because someone is surrounded by fire doesn't mean that the fight was over.

When Sasuke landed back on the ground he stared at the blazing fire in front of him with narrowed eyes. He knew something was wrong, he knew because Gaara didn't make any attempt to save himself from his attack. Just then he glanced down to see two hand-like appendages come snaking towards his ankles. Eyes widening, Sasuke dashed away as more and more hand of sand came rising from the ground in an attempt to capture him.

Then, from out of the smoke that was left from his previous attack, another torrent of sand was launched at him and collided with his right side sending the boy crashing into a nearby tree. The said boy hissed in pain before being forced to dodge yet another wave of sand.

Up in the stands Temari sighed as she watched the fight continue. She had to admit, the Uchiha was good, he had lived longer than anyone else who had fought Gaara before, but it was hopeless. Nothing had ever broken through her brother's _Suna no Tate _unless he allowed it, which he never did. To her right, Naruto was watching this with a frown on his face. He knew something wasn't right with this situation, he knew because Sasuke was no slouch when it came to training.

'What are you hiding Sasuke?' thought the boy as he continued to watch the fight.

Getting annoyed with the Suna Nin, Sasuke rushed forward while dodging a few of the bursts of sand being shot at him. As he came closer, he reared his fist back, aiming to make another attempt to hit his opponent. He was met with the same results as the first time and yet he still smirked.

'Time to stop playing around,' thought the boy before disappearing before his fist even hit the sand.

Gaara's eyes, for the first time since the match started, widened as Sasuke reappeared behind him with a small smirk on his features. Whipping his head around, he was met with a powerful right hook to the face, which caused him to be sent flying through the air and come crashing down with his sand cushioning his descent.

This little action caused Temari to gasp as not a single soul ever managed to land one hit on Gaara. Glancing over towards his right, Naruto stared at the girl in confusion while the Yugito and Shikamaru did the same.

"What's up with you?" asked Yugito with a raised eyebrow. "Never seen your brother get hit before?"

"Yes," replied the girl. "The Uchiha was the first to ever hit him."

Yugito's eyes widened slightly while Naruto was now smirking down at Sasuke, who was standing in Lee's fighting stance.

Gaara glared at the boy who was now standing not too far away from him while chunks of his _Suna no Yoroi _began to break off. He could hear mother screaming at him to kill the boy and soak in his blood for her. Steadily returning to his feet, a long trail of sand began to pour out of his gourd before forming a small ring around him.

Sasuke smirked at confidently, now realizing what the weakness to the red-heads sand manipulation skills. While the sand was unbelievably difficult to get around, it lacked the speed in which he traveled at. So, all he had to do was get close enough and deliver a few attacks and he could have this finished quickly.

That thought in mind, the boy shot off like a rocket before disappearing in a ring of dust. Still surprised by the dramatic increase in speed, Gaara quickly lashed out a torrent of sand in all directions, in hopes of hitting his opponent. Just as sudden as he had vanished, he appeared again, with his hands on a tiger seal.

"_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu_!"

Gaara's eyes widened as four large fireballs came flying towards him at high speeds. Almost instantly, brownish sand shot up to protect him from the deadly assault. But, he was completely unaware of the kick that landed right on his jaw causing him to go flying out of his own sand dome and collide into the ground. Growling in annoyance, he shot his hand out and soon, multiple spikes made of sand came shooting out of the ground right in front of where the Uchiha was standing. Many gasped when Sasuke's body was pierced by the said spikes only sigh in relief as the boy was engulfed in smoke to reveal a log that had been impaled instead of him.

Feeling a presence behind him, Gaara quickly whirled around and lashed his sand out to strike his opponent, only to find an after-image of the said boy. Suddenly he gasped in pain as Sasuke's fist dug deep into his abdomen causing all the air in his lungs to leave him. Still not finished with his attack, Sasuke quickly retracted his fist before delivering a series of punches to the red-heads face followed by a powerful round house kick to the jaw, sending the boy back onto the ground.

Groaning in pain, Gaara briefly touched his face and found that most of his sand armor was now broken off, leaving him vulnerable to more of the Uchiha's attacks. Quickly gathering up as much sand as he could, he slowly began to reform his armor while sending more bursts of sand towards Sasuke to keep him away. Though this did little distraction did little to nothing as Sasuke easily maneuvered around each wave of sand that was sent his way. Unfortunately, Gaara was still able to reform his armor and thus, when Sasuke came within inches from hitting him, a pillar of sand shot up and blocked the attack.

Due to the fact that Sasuke was in a close proximity to Gaara, he had no way of dodging the punch that connected to his jaw, which sent him flying through the air and skidding to a stop near the base of a tree.

Grunting in pain, Sasuke slowly returned to his feet while clutching his now bleeding head. Who knew that someone who relied on sand could hit so hard? Shaking away his dizziness, he glanced up just in time to see more sand spikes coming towards him. Dashing out of harms way, Sasuke rushed forward while avoiding more and more sand as he raced by before circling around the boy, kicking up dust as he went.

Knowing exactly what the boy was planning to do, Gaara sent wave after wave of sand in hopes of hitting the circling dark haired youth. Unfortunately for him, Sasuke's speed was still too quick for him to land any form of attack on him and every time his sand came close to hitting him, Sasuke was still able to dodge them, albeit with a bit of effort since he knew he wouldn't be able to stop himself in time should an attack get too close to him.

After about the seventh lap around, Sasuke finally shot out of towards the boy while parrying around a burst of sand heading in his direction. Nearing his opponent, he ducked down and delivered a powerful upper kick to the boy's chin, which caused the sand boy to be sent into the air. However, what Sasuke didn't expect was for the boy to only go a few feet into the air before steadily coming back down, due to the extra weight of his sand armor.

Not knowing what else to do at this point he decided to improvise and thus, went with the first thing that came to mind. Grabbing hold of the boy's ankles, he gave them a fierce tug, before slamming the boy onto his back. After doing this, Sasuke leaped high into the air while flashing seals for his next jutsu. Gaara smirked at the opening he was given and sent a jet of sand at the air-born Uchiha who had just finished his seals. Yet, just when Gaara's attack was about to connect, Sasuke vanished while leaving nothing but a swirl of leaves where he once was.

Eyes widening, Gaara stood up from his position before beginning to search around the arena franticly. Then, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed yet another whirl of leaves flicker to his left yet, when he looked over, nothing was there. Then, he heard it again, and again, until almost everywhere he looked leaves were being kicked up.

Back up in the stands, Gai was staring down at the arena with a small smirk on his features as he watched the fight go on. Though, he was a bit peeved when he saw that Sasuke was using his and Lee's fighting style he had noticed that there were quite a few differences than it there was with Lee's which meant that Sasuke hadn't just copied his movements, he took it a step further and made it into this own unique style. Over all he was impressed but not as impressed as he was at seeing this display.

"So, are you trying to make another Shunshin master my hip rival?" asked the man with amusement clearly in his voice.

Glancing over at the fellow Jounin and friend, he scratched the back of his head before replying. "It was Sasuke who decided to become a master at it. At first I didn't think he would have the chakra capacity to do such a feat but evidently I was wrong."

"So, does that mean he is nearing his limits?"

Kakashi actually chuckled at the man for a moment before looking back at the fight. "You'll see Gai, you'll see."

Back on the arena floor Gaara was searching around franticly for even the slightest glimpse of Sasuke. But, due to all the leaves and such blocking out his vision, he was unable to see much. Not only that but Sasuke was using _Shunshin_ so consistently, it made it impossible to find any pattern to his movements so he could launch an attack.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Gaara briefly notice a black blur heading towards him. By the time he had his defense up, Sasuke was inside his guard, and delivered a powerful punch to his jaw before following up by grabbing onto the belt and sash hanging over his chest and dug both his knees into Gaara's abdomen. To finish off his combo, he touched both feet to the ground and sent a powerful uppercut to the boy's chin before twisting his body as the boy went into the air and kicked him again in his stomach.

Panting, Sasuke watched as Gaara steadily returned to his feet while glaring daggers at him as more sand sprayed out of his gourd. Now Sasuke was starting to get annoyed at the red-haired boy in front of him. How many attacks did it take for the guy to just stay down?

He watched as Gaara glared back at him with his piercing green eyes before forming a seal. Instantly, sand rise around him, before molding into a sphere while added layers upon layers into it. Figuring out what the boy was doing, Sasuke rushed forward, aiming to strike the boy before the sand completely encased him. Sadly, he wasn't fast enough as the sphere completely just as his fist connected to it. And the moment his fist did connect, spikes of sand shot out at him, each one barely missing his boy by mere inches.

Sasuke panted heavily as he stared disbelievingly at the dome of sand in front of him. He never imagined that the sand was this dense, he felt like he had just punched freaking steel. He could feel blood oozing through his fingers and the cut on his face due to one of the spikes that nearly hit him. Seeing the spikes shift back and another set of spikes beginning to resurface, Sasuke leaped back to avoid them while sending chakra to his eyes to activate his Sharingan. If he was going to get close to this thing, he knew that he needed to predict the movements of these things to avoid them.

Temari, if possible, stared at the dome with greater intensity than before. She knew now that if Gaara was becoming so desperate to use his _Suna no Mayu_ than he was indeed in a tight situation. Not only that, but the fact that he was throwing the plan into jeopardy just by doing this meant that he was starting to lose control, and that Shukaku was about to rear its ugly head.

Naruto, who had been staring at the orb with great curiosity, glanced over towards Temari. Take an unnoticeable whiff of her sent, he could smell fear beginning to pour off her. Looking back at the arena floor, he couldn't figure out what the girl had to be afraid of. After all, in his eyes her brother looked locked up tight in his little dome and from the blood he smelled coming off his teammate's hand just from punching it proved that it was indeed sturdy. So what did she have to be afraid of?

Glancing over his shoulder towards Shikamaru, he noticed that he too had his eyebrow raised at Temari's attitude. Sure, he didn't have Naruto's senses but he could tell by her body language that something wasn't right with the situation. Normally he would have shrugged it off as a troublesome matter but this wasn't one of those times. She had been acting strange since the beginning of this fight, and every second Gaara got injured, the girl would always stiffen a bit and watch the fight even closer.

To him, it seemed like she was hiding something, and Gaara was somehow tied into the secret.

Back on the arena floor Sasuke watched closely as the spikes returned back into the dome and noticed that a small whirl of sand began to form above the dome until it stopped to show a single eye staring directly at him. This unnerved him a bit as the sight of a single floating eyeball kind of freaked him out. Shaking that thought off, Sasuke rushed forward while tossing a few kunai, which bounced off the sphere of sand easily, before performing Shunshin a few feet behind the sphere and dashing forward. As he came closer, more spikes shot out in his direction. Fortunately for him he had foreseen this via Sharingan and thus, maneuvered around each one of the spikes and land an attack in-between one of the gaps of some of the said spikes. Seeing them recede back into the dome, he quickly backed up to avoid another set that had sprung up just as the others were returning back to the orb.

'That dome is too tough for regular attacks to penetrate it, that much is certain. Using any of my other Jutsu would just be a waste of chakra,' thought Sasuke before sighing loudly. 'Guess this is as good a time as any to use it.'

Rushing towards the arena wall, he focused chakra into his feet and easily stuck to it before running up until he was near the very top. Feeling like he got enough distance, he flashed through three seals before kneeling down and gripping his wrist. Soon, chakra began to pour into his hand until it began to crackle around it until lightning had completely covered his hand.

Gai, who was now staring wide-eyed at the Uchiha, whirled his hand over at Kakashi with a stern look on his face. "Is that what I think it is?"

Kakashi spared the man a quick glance before nodding. "Yeah, I taught him."

"So that's why you trained him in Taijutsu, so you could raise his speed up to a higher rate."

"Yup."

Gai however, wasn't the only one surprised by the technique, as Yugito's eyes were also widened in surprise. Naruto was now gripping his ears do to the loud chirping noise coming from Sasuke's newest attack.

"What the hell is that?" growled out the blonde while still gripping his ears in pain.

"It's a simple stab," replied an awestruck Yugito as she stared at Uchiha. "But from what I've heard of it, it's one of Konoha's top jutsu and the only original technique utilized by Hatake Kakashi."

Sasuke grinned as the preparations were now complete. Slowly, he reared his arm back and as he did, a small trench was made due to the intensity of the crackling limb. Once ready, Sasuke took off like a bullet down the arena wall with his hand still hovering above the ground by a few inches. As he neared the base of the wall, a loud crash was heard, followed by a small dust cloud that obscured everyone's view of the dark clad boy. They didn't need to wait long, as said boy soon came rushing out of the cloud with his electrified limb still hovering above the ground.

"So, what does this technique do?" asked Sakura curiously, as Sasuke came closer towards Gaara.

"It's a technique specifically for assassination purposes. The speed of the of the stab and great amount of chakra that is used creates a near-indestructible weapon out of the user's arm," answered Gai

"Because the chakra is concentrated into the hand and with the speed of the user, you hear the sound of a thousand birds chirping all at once," continued Yugito while Naruto looked amazed at the technique while Sasuke raised his arm up off the ground.

"Thus the name of the technique…" continued Gai as Sasuke weaved in-between the spikes that shot out when he came into striking distance. After dodging the last of the spikes, Sasuke glared at the sphere of sand with Sharingan blazing before thrusting his arm towards it, causing it to pierce right through the sand as though it was nothing but butter.

"_Chidori_." finished Yugito and Gai at the same time while others gasped at how easily the attack penetrated the Suna nin's absolute defense.

Everyone, even the Raikage, stared in awe at what had just transpired just now. Sarutobi was speechless and the Kazekage was now smirking under the cloth that hid his face. The first one to break the silence between the Kages was the Raikage, who whistled loudly.

"Damn, didn't see that comin'."

Naruto stared down at Sasuke with a new level of interest as he stood with his arm deep inside the sphere of sand. In all his time spent with his sensei, he never imagined that Kakashi had such a powerful technique at his disposal. Sure, he had seen it during the mission in wave, but he had managed to stop it and at the time he didn't put much thought into how powerful it was. He shuddered a bit and thanked Kami that he had Tessaiga's sheath since if Gaara's sand was pierced through so easily, he knew that when the attack hit flesh it would pierce through it just as easily.

"So, how do you know of this jutsu Yugito-chan?"

Shaking out of her shock, Yugito looked back at him and replied. "I've heard stories about this jutsu. It has another name called _Raikiri_, which was when Hatake was said to have cut through a bolt of lightning with that technique."

"I find that hard to believe," grunted out Naruto while digging around in his ear with his pinky finger.

"It really isn't since the story is true if an ex-Jounin from Kumo would be proof of that."

"You're serious?!"

"Absolutely," growled out Yugito, "he was my father after all."

Upon hearing that, Naruto mood went downhill and turned away from the girl. Part of him was glad she didn't know that Kakashi was his sensei but the other part was worried. He was worried, for the second time in one day, that he might lose his friendship with the fellow Jinchuuriki due to the fact that his sensei was the man that killed her father. He didn't want to pick sides and the thought of having to choose to defend his sensei or turn against him for Yugito sickened him.

The girl noticed this change in behavior but decided not to comment. Those were old memories, memories that she didn't want to remember. Deciding to focus back on the match, she found that Sasuke still had his arm deep within the orb of sand.

"Will he pull that damn thing out and finish this already!"

"That's just like Sasuke, wanting to be center of attention for everything," replied Naruto with a chuckle.

"If I'm not mistaken, that was more like you back then," piped in Shikamaru with an amused look on his face.

"Shut up Shikamaru!"

Yugito couldn't help as a giggle escaped her lips while the irritated blonde glared back at the lazy boy in the corner. Just then a loud shriek could be heard coming from the center of the arena where Sasuke and Gaara were still standing.

"THIS IS BLOOD! MY BLOOD!" screeched Gaara from inside the sphere.

'Oh no,' thought Temari gravely. 'It's happening!'

Suddenly Sasuke felt something gripping his arm, no, something was currently crushing his arm from inside the dome of sand. He attempted to pull his arm free from whatever was holding him, only to fail as whatever it was was indeed very strong and it was refusing to release its grip. Channeling chakra back into his arm, lightning once again sparked around his arm and another cry of pain was heard. Taking one last tug, Sasuke was able to completely pull his arm out of the sphere, but what came out with his arm had made him spooked. A giant claw-like appendage made from he guessed was sand, yet, when he backed up enough and the claw collapsed to the ground, it didn't turn back into sand, more so it slithered its way back into the darkness inside the sphere where Gaara still was.

Gripping his arm in pain, Sasuke peered inside the ball of sand only to find nothing but darkness. Then he saw it, a lone yellow eye with a star like pupil stared back at him through the hole he had just made. At that point, killing intent began to pour throughout the arena in huge waves. It was to the point that even the three Kages could feel it. Not long after it was felt, it vanished followed by the loud cracking of Gaara's _Suna no Mayu_ breaking.

As more and more cracks began to appear on the sphere, the sand began to fall limply to the ground while some of the other parts of the dome stayed in place. When the dome finally collapsed, Gaara was once again visible to the world as he was now clutching his now bleeding shoulder while panting heavily. His face now showed more cracks along it as his sand armor began to fall off in chunks. The said boy was now glaring at him with new found rage along with insanity flashing through his eyes.

'Those aren't the same eyes,' thought Sasuke with a hint of fear. 'What was that… thing that was staring right at me?'

His thoughts were interrupted when a white feather entered his field of vision. Glancing around, he found that thousands of similar feathers were now showering around everywhere inside the stadium.

Up in the stands with Yugito, Naruto felt his eyes begin to droop while his vision began to fade. He felt like he was going to pass out when Yugito quickly grabbed hold of his arm and mutter "Kai" before suddenly feeling wide awake again.

"What the hell was that!?" asked the blonde before hearing footsteps quickly approaching behind him.

Turning around, he found a man in a basic Oto uniform rushing towards him with a kunai in hand. Lunging his blade at the blonde, he was surprised when the boy easily caught his wrist before the attack could connect and broke it just as easily as he had caught it. He didn't even get a chance to scream in pain as the next second, a kunai had slit his throat, courtesy of Yugito.

"Ok, now I'm lost, what the hell's going on?!"

"Isn't it obvious Naruto?" stated Shikamaru with a frown on his face. "We're under attack."

* * *

_Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu _- Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique

_Katon: Housenka no Jutsu - _Fire Release: Mythical Fire Phoenix Technique

_Shunshin_ _no Jutsu_ - Body Flicker Technique

_Suna no__ Mayu_ - Cocoon of Sand

_Suna no Tate -_ Shield of Sand

_Suna no Yoroi -_ Armor of Sand

_Chidori_ - One Thousand Birds

Well, there you all are, the latest chapter and its one step closer to the fight everyone wants to see. That's right people THE GAARA VS. NARUTO FIGHT IS ALMOST AT HAND!!! Anyway, I hope you guys like the few changes I made with that fight in hopes to make it seem more entertaining to read for you guys. Now, since I think a majority like the little chats I have with the Jinchuuriki, I think it would be nice to give them all something for the holidays.

Yugito: (Stares at box with puncture holes in it) What the hell is this?

Gaara: (Open's gift and gasps) Its a Teddy bear! Just what I wanted!

Killer Bee: (Opens box) Sweet, new sunglasses. (Glances around) Hey SF, where's that blonde guy at?

Me: Um.....I forgot where I put him.

Yugito: (Squeals) SO CUTE! (Hugs small fox closer to her chest)

Me: **Now** I remember where I put him.

Killer Bee: (Raises eyebrow) Hey SF?

Me: Yeah?

Killer Bee: You got one too.

Me: (Scratches head) I don't remember....aw screw it. (Tears box open.)

(Tayuya randomly jumps out of the tiny box and glumps SF) GINKIBA-KUN!!!

Me: What the hell!? Though I'm not complaining.

Naruto: Yip, Yip (Can't Breathe!)

R&R and since its the holidays I wont threaten you all if you don't. Just have a Merry Christmas (or what ever you celebrate) and a happy new year my faithful readers.


	19. The Oto & Suna Invasion

Yo people! Sorry for the long delay but I've been rather busy as of late. Most of it involves school and work since I've just went from being a buser to a waiter at work. Yay for me! Anyway, I just wanted to say that from here till the end of the Invasion, most of my fight scenes will rather...gory if not brutal. Meaning that its not just going to be a punch to the face and thats it. No people will be thrown threw walls, have body parts cut off, and all that good stuff. So if your not a fan of that kind of stuff than please read with caution. Well that's all I've got to say for now, On with the long awaited chapter!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_ Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

A blank hunter masked Anbu watched as a giant three headed Snake burst through one of the towering walls that surrounded Konoha. The kunoichi was currently clenching her fists tightly as she had miscalculated on where the location to the snake summon was. This was not what she had expected in the least. She knew of the attack, but she was not aware of this until she had ambushed the last invasion point was.

"Where the hell were those Anbu doing!?" growled out the woman while glaring at the giant snake slithering through the village.

Her eyes narrowed further when she felt a presence creeping up on her from behind. Too annoyed to even think of mercy, she whirled around, and delivered a powerful right hook to the Oto Nin's jaw causing him to be sent flying into the side of a nearby building. Grunting, the man opened his mouth to shout at her before realizing that the Anbu was gone.

"Looking for me?" mocked a voice from above.

The man didn't even get a chance to look up as the kunoichi dropped down and dug a kunai deep into his head. She smirked behind her mask as the Oto Nin's body fell down into the alleyway below until he landed lifelessly on the ground with an echoing thud.

Her smirk grew wider as she felt several other chakra signatures beginning to surround her. Glancing around, she saw that on all of the nearby buildings and rooftops had Suna and Oto ninja glaring daggers at her.

"Aw, twelve against one? This seems a little too unfair don't you think?"

"All's fair in love and war," growled out an Oto kunoichi who raised her Melody Arm. "And right now, we're at war."

What the Oto Nin didn't expect was to hear the Anbu begin to laugh. It didn't sound cruel, insane, or even mocking. Just a simple genuine laugh, like the kunoichi just been told a funny joke.

"Let me rephrase my last statement," replied the woman before her laughter immediately ceased. What followed after was a great amount of killing intent that had left them all breathless. Though it was nowhere near as intense as Orochimaru's was, it felt on par with that of Kabuto's and he was just as terrifying and sadistic as Orochimaru was at times.

"When I said that this was a little unfair, meant you were going to need more ninja than this to touch me."

With that one statement said, the woman dashed off towards the closest ninja to her, which happened to be the Kunoichi who had spoken earlier, and sent a punch to the woman's chest. The said woman raised her Melody arm in an attempt to block the woman's attack only to have her eyes widen in shock. The reason why was because the moment the punch connected to the gauntlet, it shattered to pieces as though it was nothing but glass. Not only that, but her forearm had also been broken just as easily in the process.

The woman screamed in pain for only a second before feeling the Anbu place both her hands on each side of her head. Then, with one swift motion, the mysterious women twisted her neck followed by a loud cracking noise before kicking her corpse off the side of the roof and down towards yet another alleyway.

Glancing at the other ninja who was now staring fearfully at her, she cracked her knuckles while smiling under her mask.

"So, who's next?"

**Back at the Stadium**

Naruto stared back at Shikamaru with a shocked expression on his face. An attack; why were they being attacked? It was rather confusing since Konoha had done nothing to provoke such a thing. Who would be attacking the village when they had done nothing to try and make enemies over the past several years? Well, he really wasn't sure if this was true or not but to the best of his knowledge he was pretty sure that they hadn't provoked anyone to trigger this turn of events.

Before his thoughts could continue any further, Temari had snapped her fan open and had jumped down to the arena. Naruto expected her to engage in some of the Oto Nin who were pouring out of the stadium. What he didn't expect though was for her to turn mid-air to face the balcony him and the others were standing on and swing her fan at them.

"_Kamaitachi_!" hollered out Temari before a huge gust of wind swept through the room followed by the cutting force that easily sliced through everything in its path.

Temari watched as dust now obscured her view with a frown on her face. She didn't want to do this, she didn't much care for what good this would do for the invasion. But it was her duty and she had to do this, for her father, for her family, for her very village's survival. Personal feelings were to be put aside for the better cause, and it didn't matter if these people deserved death or not.

Temari did, however, utter a small prayer to the three she had just killed before turning her attention back to the matter at hand. Currently her objective was to get Gaara to safety, and out into the forest before he started to revert into this other form. Sure, she could just leave him, but if he were to transform in the arena none would be spared, whether they be friend or foe.

However, just when she was nearing the ground, she felt something gripping her neck tightly. Glancing down, her eyes caught sight of a familiar yellowish-green whip wrapped firmly around her. Turning her attention back to the balcony in alarm and confusion to see that the line of yellowish-green light coming from the cloud of dust. When it finally cleared, she could no longer see the other two occupants who were previously there, instead all she saw was Naruto who was covered in multiple cuts with most of his shirt now cut to ribbons. Currently, he was glaring daggers at her and she had to suppress the urge to stiffen.

Growling in anger, Naruto gave a fierce tug to his whip, causing Temari to come flying back in his direction while grasping on the whip in an attempt to keep herself from choking. Her eyes widened when she realized that she had released her hold on her fan and thus, it fell to the arena floor with a loud clang. Once she was near the railing of the balcony, or what remained after her attack, he cut the flow to his youki before leaping towards her and landed a powerful punch to her abdomen. Temari's eyes widened as blood came shooting out of her mouth and she lost every ounce of air that was once in her lungs.

At that point, the Suna kunoichi collapsed to the ground while coughing up more blood while trying her very hardest to get some air. However, she wasn't given the privilege to recuperate as Naruto's hand quickly found its way to her throat and was now being held up in the air with ease.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked the blonde with a snarl while applying more pressure to the girl's throat.

The said girl brought her hands up to the one holding her up and attempted to pry his hand off, not so much to escape, mostly so that she could breathe. She took note that most of the cuts that were on his body were now closing up at a rapid pace with bits of steam rising off them as they healed. It was at that point she glanced at the fellow blonde's face and noticed that his eyes were briefly flashing from sapphire to gold every few seconds. This made her even more desperate to pry away from his hold, she still remembered very clearly what he was capable of during the preliminary rounds, and she really didn't want to be on the opposing side of those eyes.

"W-w-we were o-ordered to attack-" choked out Temari as she felt his grip tighten even further, "-t-to prove to our d-daimyo that Suna w-wasn't w-weak."

Her answer did nothing but fuel the anger that was steadily bubbling inside his body. These people, who were supposed to be their allies, simply came to attack them just so they could prove a point! He felt his anger beginning to trigger his Yokai form and began to take some deep breaths to calm him down. Though, not for a single moment during this did he loosen his hold on the Suna kunoichi who was still trying to pry his hand off her throat. Once he felt his anger suppress, he glared heatedly at the young woman before whirling around and tossing her into the far wall.

He smirked a bit when her body connected to the wall to form a large crater in the wall. Naruto watched with a bit of satisfaction as she slid down it until she was sitting hunched over on the ground. He was a bit surprised though when he noticed that she was still conscious but he could tell that she would most likely pass out at any minute. Turning his back to her, he took a step forward before glancing around, searching for both Shikamaru and Yugito.

He had felt the two's chakra flare for a brief moment and knew that they must have performed _Kawarimi_ to escape the attack. Problem was, he couldn't find them as the smell of metal and blood was practically polluting the air in the stadium. Naruto sighed as he prepared to aid Sasuke in his fight when a thought suddenly accrued to him.

'Tenten!'

Fear gripped his heart at the thought of an Oto or Suna ninja killing her in the state she was currently in. Not only that, but there was also Neji, Lee, and Choji who were completely vulnerable at the moment. Not caring for anything else around him, Naruto leaped down the arena with his own primary objective. The moment he landed on the arena floor, he had already shot off like a rocket towards the medical sector of the stadium while praying that his friends were all safe.

**In the Kage Box**

Sarutobi, for the life of him, couldn't figure out how drastic things had turned in the span of a few minutes. One minute he was witnessing Uchiha Sasuke fighting against Sabaku no Gaara, and then the next minute he was on the roof of the Kage box with a kunai at his throat along with a barrier surrounding them. The person holding the kunai to his throat was none other than the Kazekage, who he guessed was smirking behind the cloth that hid the lower half of his face.

"For Suna to betray Konoha-" began Sarutobi with a sour look on his face.

"Alliances are only useful to make the enemy relax his guard," interrupted the Kazekage. "This foolish fighting game ends now. From here history will change."

"You wish to start a war?"

"Precisely."

"We don't have to solve this through bloodshed; we can work this out our differences through negotiation. Kazekage-dono you don't have to do this, there is still time."

The Kazekage closed his eyes for a brief moment before scoffing, causing Sarutobi to frown a bit.

"Do we all become peace loving fools as we age… Sarutobi-sensei?"

At that, Sarutobi's eyes widened for a moment before they narrowed followed by a wave of killing intent that made the 'Kazekage' smirk under his mask.

"You."

The man chuckled a bit before taking notice down on the arena floor. Gaara, who moments ago was clutching his head in pain, was now laughing hysterically. Seeing this, the Kazekage's chuckle turned into that of full blown laughter that turned Sarutobi's frown into a scowl.

"So Gaara was useful after all."

"I see, so he's your trump card after all."

"Yes, and because of your foolishness Konoha will fall this day. Face it sensei, I have won."

"It's not over 'til it's over; I thought I had taught you that much Orochimaru."

There was a small chuckle that escaped the man's lips before he grabbed at his face and removed the fleshy mask to reveal none other than the pale white face of Orochimaru who was now smirking at his sensei with his golden slitted eyes, which gleamed with excitement.

"So, my old student, why are you doing all this?" asked the elderly man as he watched the blade move away from his throat. "You're not the type of person to seek only on vengeance; what is your goal in doing this?"

"Perhaps I do have a goal. I guess you could say that I enjoy watching things in motion; things are dull when they are in a standstill wouldn't you agree?" replied the man as he began to walk a few feet away from his old sensei while removing the hat that he had been previously wearing. "A stopped windmill isn't worth watching you know… though sometimes it's good, because of anticipation. Right now, I want to make that windmill spin again with the crumbling leaf as the wind."

By the time he had finished his speech; he had ceased in his steps and was now sneering back at Sarutobi while his eyes lit up once more in excitement. Sarutobi could only smirk as he removed his robes and hat to show his black battle attire. Smirking, Orochimaru did the same, revealing his own battle attire.

"You never change do you Orochimaru?"

**On the arena floor**

Sasuke was in a dilemma and he knew it. Oh he knew it very well at this point in time. How he knew was by the way Gaara was now looking at him. It wasn't the same as it was before, at first it was just plain insanity and beyond that was nothing but emptiness. Now though the look of insanity was still there, only instead of emptiness, his eyes held pure and utter bloodlust. It didn't help that the boy was pouring out killing intent that made him almost shiver.

He watched Gaara closely while making sure that none of his sand was trying to creep up on him before returning his attention to the red haired youth in front of him. He could see cracks beginning to form around the side of his face and yet, they didn't crumble off like it did earlier. Instead it looked like the cracks were…apart of his actual face, not just for his armor.

"You, who are strong, you who have companions, you who have an ambition, you who are like me," murmured Gaara while still clutching his head and chuckling. "Once I kill you, I will be the one to have destroyed all of that, only then can I survive, only then can I feel ALIVE!"

Wordlessly, Sasuke listened to this with an intent stare on the red-head's eyes. He could remember when this boy had randomly appeared at the top of the cliff in which he and Kakashi were training on. At the time he had put off what the kid had been saying since he dubbed it unimportant. Now though, he was starting to question of the boy really had lost his mind. If the boy's drooling and bloodthirsty look on his face was any indication, then he didn't know what else it would take. Still, he knew that this simple match between two Genin was no longer just a match; it was a fight for his very survival.

Suddenly, the red-head collapsed to his knees while clutching his head in pain. His grunts soon turned into a shriek as his gourd began to form into sand and encase his entire left arm before beginning take the shape of something familiar. That something was a giant claw that he had seen not too long ago. Once his arm was fully covered, Gaara raised his head to reveal the most grotesque thing Sasuke had ever seen.

The right side of his face was still normal as before, yet his left side was also covered in sand except…it didn't look anything like sand. To him, it was as though it was skin with bluish wind like tattoos surrounding that side of his face while his teeth on the same side took to being fangs. His mouth was seeping with drool and his left eye was no longer green, but a familiar yellow eye with a star like pupil staring back at him.

"Now, let me feel it!" yelled the crazed boy as he rushed forward at speeds Sasuke had no idea the boy possessed with his claw reared back and ready to strike. Fortunately Sasuke was able to move out of the way in time to avoid the attack, yet he gaped when he looked back down at the damage the attack had done. The arena floor now had four claw-like slash marks along the ground also with a gaping hole in the stadium wall that the claw was still lodged inside.

Glancing around the arena, he took note that civilians were still inside the stadium and if the two were to fight in here, then they would be caught up in the crossfire. He couldn't have that, not under any circumstance. Deciding that leaving was the best course of action, Sasuke raced up the wall of the stadium before rushing back down towards the forest. Even as he ran he could hear Gaara's screams and taunts from inside the stadium.

As he reached the base of exterior of the stadium wall, he was about to head off into the forest when Gaara's giant claw burst through the wall and swatted him a couple feet away from where he intended to go. Wincing in pain, he steadily returned to his feet only to see Gaara come crashing through the wall with a sinister grin on his face.

'Well, at least I'm not inside the stadium anymore,' thought the raven-haired boy dryly.

"Are you afraid of me Uchiha Sasuke!" yelled the crazed boy while his eyes stared intently at the dark pools of his foe. "Are you afraid of my existence!?"

Again, memories of their last encounter swam through his mind in a fraction of a second. He wasn't afraid, he knew that the boy was just taunting him, and most of all, he knew he couldn't risk fighting him here. He needed to get to the forest, he needed cover, and he needed it now! Problem was, he knew that with the drastic increase in the boy's speed, he wouldn't make it to the forest without the risk of severe injuries.

So, with that in mind, he whirled around and ran as fast as he could towards the local park. He couldn't fight him in the open like this and the park was the only place he could think of at the moment that would give him some good cover while sparing the buildings any damage. Besides, even in this situation, he knew that should he get himself overwhelmed, it could be possible that a Jounin or a group of Chuunin could aid him in defeating this… monster of an opponent.

"What's the matter, are you still afraid of me! Has your fear overtaken the hatred, the killing urge? Is your reason for existence as puny as that!?" hollered the boy before giving chase to the raven haired boy.

And as Sasuke ran, the only thought in his mind was the lingering doubt that he might not live through this fight.

**Back with Naruto **

Naruto stood in the center of the hallway leading to the medical center with a fearful expression on his face. The reason being was that bodies of dead nurses and doctors lay all around with kunai, shuriken, and blood littering the tiled floors. Worst of all was that, despite all the blood in the area, he could smell Tenten's scent not far away from here.

Rushing passed the gory scene before him, Naruto rushed towards the scent as fast he could. He even slipped into his Hanyou form due to his fear and haste. When he finally neared where Tenten's scent was, he sensed yet another presence in the room and gasped. Sliding the door open, he stood wide-eyed as an Oto Nin was holding a kunai high above his head and ready to plunge it down into the unconscious girl's heart.

His heart stopped as he witnessed this and despite his best efforts, he couldn't move no matter how much effort he put into it. Just when the ninja was about to kill his target, another man came crashing through the wall to the Oto ninja's left, causing the nin to be sent to the other side of the room his own kunai stabbed into his shoulder.

Blinking a few times, Naruto glanced through the hole to see someone that made his blood boil somewhat.

"Hello, Naruto-san," greeted the dark garbed boy

"Metaru," growled out Naruto while placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. "What are you doing here?"

"I have my reasons," replied the boy before walking over towards the now downed Oto Nin who was now pinned against the wall and groaning in pain. "You do not deserve to live scum."

If Naruto wasn't pissed upon seeing the boy again, he would have been stunned at how quickly the boy had unsheathed his sword and sliced the man's head off in one fluid motion. No, all he could do was glare at the boy in front of him as the memory of what this boy in the preliminaries had done to his girlfriend.

It was apparent to Metaru as well since he turned his attention back onto the blonde before sighing loudly while sheathing his sword.

"We can settle our issues at a later time Naruto-san. For the moment, you have more pressing matters to attend to."

"The only pressing matter I need to address is keeping Tenten and my friends safe," replied the boy heatedly while sending the boy a dose of killing intent.

Apparently, Metaru didn't notice this at all. "We are already taking care of that until backup arrives. You can leave this in our hands for the time being. What you need to be doing is taking care of some of the ninja outside attacking your other comrades and villagers."

"What I need to be doing is… wait a minute, who's we?"

Before the fellow swordsman could answer, yet another ninja burst through the wall only with two minor differences. One was the fact that he was from Suna and the other was that he was that he was still conscious, albeit barely.

"Damn, I was going for at least two walls instead of just one. I must be getting soft," mumbled the familiar form of Kagari as she stepped through the new hole leading into the room before taking notice to the blonde haired boy.

"Yo, blondie, what're you doing here?"

"Making sure that my friends were safe," replied the boy before turning to face Metaru with a glare. "From _all_ threats."

Kagari didn't need to be a genius to see that hostility between the two, even though Metaru didn't show it. She would guess that he wasn't hostile towards the blond, Kami knows he deserves it, more so he was on guard and prepared to defend himself should the blond make a move to attack him.

"As I said before Naruto-san, this is not the time or place to deal with this issue, what you need to be doing is helping those outside. We will take care of your friends until backup arrives. Until then just trust us with this task, we can handle it."

Growling loudly at just looking at the brunet in front of him, Naruto turned away while gripping the hilt of his sword tightly. "Should any harm come to Ten-chan while you're here, rest assured that I will kill you."

The boy didn't even flinch at his words, not so much because he wasn't afraid of the blonde. Truth be told, he was terrified of him right now but would not let it be known. The reason he didn't show any reaction towards the blonde's statement was because it was the least he could do for what he had done. To him, this was his one and only chance to try and make some sort of amends towards both Tenten and Naruto and he would die before he let this chance slip from his fingers.

"Understood, Naruto-san," answered the brunet as the blond walked out of the room and headed towards the exit of the medical sector and back towards the village.

Taking a whiff of the air, he could smell a multiple of things in the air – Blood, snakes, steel, dust, sweat, fear, and a bunch of other things lingered around the area. But, after a bit of patience he found what he was looking for, a specific scent, Sasuke's scent. And where ever Sasuke's scent led him, Gaara was sure to be not far behind it. So, after a few more sniffs, he rushed towards the location that he assumed Sasuke was at and hoped he wasn't too late to save his friend.

**Back with Sarutobi**

Sarutobi stared in awe at the two standing in front of him. He had never thought that Orochimaru would sink so low as to use a technique that could do something like this. Sure, he knew of it, hell it was in the Forbidden scroll for a damn good reason. Yet Orochimaru still performed it, how he knew of it Sarutobi had no clue. For he had long since banned anyone, even Minato, to even so much as glance at it or face the brutal punishment from him personally. Now the very jutsu he had put so much effort in hiding was being used against him.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it monkey," stated the man on the left, who was wearing blue battle armor.

"So it is you, it seems you have grown old, Sarutobi," spoke the man on the right, who was wearing red battle armor.

"I would not have thought I would meet with the two of you again in a situation like this. It is regrettable," replied Sarutobi with grim expression on his face. "Please make your preparations to be defeated, Shodaime-sama, Nidaime-sama."

The Anbu outside watching this all gasped with the exception of one who was staring intently at the two armor clad ninja's with intensive stare behind his mask. He knew that before, when it was only Sarutobi against Orochimaru, that the latter would lose since, even in his old age, Sarutobi was still an excellent fighter and had taken down several opponents far stronger than Orochimaru in his time. Now though, with two of the strongest ninja that Konoha had ever produced trapped inside the barrier with no outside support and Orochimaru in the mix, that this fight could turn out badly for their Hokage.

Glancing over his shoulder towards Orochimaru, Nidaime put two and two together and came to his conclusion. "So, this youngster is the one who performed _Edo Tensei_. Quite impressive if I do say so myself."

"If that is true, then I assume that we are to battle against you Sarutobi. Is this correct?"

"Yes it is now enough of the reminiscing between you old fools and lets get started, shall we?" answered Orochimaru while pulling out two kunai with special tags attached to each one.

"No matter how much the times have changed, there is always fighting isn't there?"

"You like the idea don't you?" replied the snake with a chuckle as he dug his kunai into the skulls of both men.

"Using the dead as tools, Orochimaru have you really lowered yourself to this extent?" asked the man while clenching his fists tightly.

"Say what you will, but times have changed and I've waited too long to watch this village burn to the ground. But don't you worry sensei, I'll give you the privilege to watch before I end your life as well."

"That will not happen today, my foolish student," replied Sarutobi with a small smirk of his own before digging into his pouch and pulling out two scrolls. "You plan to use two Kages against one. I think it's time I even up the odds a bit."

Raising an eyebrow, Orochimaru watched as his sensei as he tossed the two scrolls into the air before forming a set of seals. Upon finishing his seals, the two scrolls were just about to fall past him but were easily caught. In that moment, Sarutobi quickly unraveled both scrolls, laying both flat on the tiled ground below him. It was then that Orochimaru took notice to what was on the two scrolls which caused his eyes to widen.

"_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!"

Two puffs of smoke suddenly burst from the spot in which the two scrolls had once lay. When the smoke cleared, Orochimaru could swear he heard fate laughing at him at how much the tides had turned and possibly not in his favor. The Anbu outside all smirked behind their masks at the sight of who was now on the battle field and could now breathe a bit easier now that their Hokage was in good hands.

"Orochimaru, I would like to introduce my two guests. Please say hello to both the Raikage, and his brother, Kirabi."

"WHOOO YEAH!! Number eight's back, baby!"

* * *

Well there you go people, another chapter done. Sorry about it not having a lot of action in it but it needed to be done. Now, there is something I want to announce to you guys. Once I get to a certain point in this story, I will be going back to my other story Life Lingers After Death and put some work back into it. Reason I haven't updated it will be explained when I release the next chapter, which will be soon.

Yugito: Hey can I ask something about this chapter?

Me: Shoot.

Yugito: WHY DOES KILLER BEE HAVE MORE SCREEN TIME THAN ME!!!

Me: (Starts sweating) Umm....

Naruto: (Snickers) Your in deep shit now SF

Me: Shut up before I....hey where did my enchanted stick go?

Killer Bee: (Glances around) I don't know man but that racoon kid is gone too.

Naruto: Now where did he run off too?

(Gaara shows up with the enchanted stick in hand and...a talking teddy bear on his shoulder)

Yugito: What the hell did you do?

Gaara: SHUSH! I'm talking to the teddy. (Me, Killer Bee, Yugito, and Naruto all sweat drop.)

R&R before Gaara makes more talking teddy bears come and annoy the ever living crap out of you. Beliieve me when I say they won't die, cause Gaara still has my stick and he won't allow them to die unless he wants them too, and he doesn't.

Me: GIVE ME MY ENCHANTED STICK BACK DAMNIT!!!

Gaara: NEVER!!!


	20. Sasuke vs Gaara

Yo people! Been a while but I've got this one done rather quickly compared to the last few. Still, I have something to say before I continue further.

1000 REVIEW MARK BABY! ALL YOU HATERS CAN SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR DAMN THROAT NOW!!!

(Clears throat) Anyway, I hope all of you enjoy this chapter since I actually enjoyed writing it very much. It has a more...brutal feel to it, I guess that's why I like it so much, though I can promise that this chapter aint going to have nothing on the Naruto vs. Gaara fight. And its here, I'll leave you to enjoy the newest chapter of Naruto: The Fox with a Dog's Fang!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_ Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

He was tired, he was panting, and he was sweating bullets yet he was smirking. He was smirking 'cause he had made it, and somewhere along the way, he had lost Gaara. Sasuke couldn't believe he got to the local park unscathed though Gaara by no means was easy to maneuver around. He had to duck, dodge, and practically pulled every trick he could think of to evade around some of the insane boy's rather devastating attacks. Nevertheless, he barely made it to his destination without a single scratch on him, for that much he was relieved.

Though, a good portion of the credit belonged to a few Chuunin who had managed to help him by stalling the beast known as Gaara whilst he made his way to the park. Sadly, said Chuunin lost their lives in the process. He reminded himself that once this was over, he was going to visit their graves and thank them for the aid even though it might have seemed pointless at the moment.

Surveying his surroundings, he found that the spot he was currently in was suitable for his needs in this fight since most of what surrounded him was tall and sturdy trees that would make great cover when he needed it. Focusing chakra to his eyes, his Sharingan came to life as he searched for any approaching chakra signatures. Finding none so far, he stopped the flow of chakra and sat down near the base of one of the nearby trees, panting heavily due to the fatigue he was suffering from.

Going into his pouch, he quickly pulled out a small container and opened it to reveal four or five soldier pills. Popping one into his mouth, he quickly ate the said pill before sighing contently as he felt his chakra reserves slowly fill back up.

'Note to self: Thank Kakashi-sensei for getting these for me,' thought the boy with a small smirk.

You see, even over the past month of training, his chakra reserves had yet to grow any larger than they originally had. Though they did grow a bit larger, it was nowhere near the point that he could rapidly perform _Shunshin_ the way he had along with his other jutsu. Hell, the _Chidori _took up almost all of his chakra when he used it against Gaara and he was amazed that he even managed to get to the park without passing out from exhaustion. That's why Kakashi had suggested the use of soldier pills after their first sparring match while utilizing the _Shunshin no Jutsu_.

Still, the soldier pills only refueled his chakra storages by so much and it wasn't safe to eat another for at least another five or ten minutes. So he doubted he would be using _Shunshin_ again the way he had before and the fact that he would need to use _Chidori _again didn't escape his thoughts. If he was going to win the fight against Gaara, he was going to need his trump card, no if, ands, or buts about it.

Suddenly, a loud chuckle echoed throughout the wooden area Sasuke was currently resting in. Startled, Sasuke quickly returned to his feet, Sharingan blazing to life once more while he searched in every direction for his opponent.

He was mistaken in doing this because this action just alerted Gaara of the boy's location.

A few seconds later, Gaara's clawed hand burst through the tree behind Sasuke and had pierced Sasuke's right side and with the added strength behind the attack, Sasuke was sent flying across the ground. The red-head grinned in satisfaction only to snarl in anger when his target burst into smoke to reveal a log with a gaping hole in the side of it.

"You're going to have to do better than that to catch me, Gaara," stated a voice from above.

Glancing up, he saw Sasuke standing on a tree branch smirking down at him without a single scratch on his body. This further enraged the half-transformed Gaara as he lashed his arm at the dark clad boy. The said boy's smirk never left his face as he jumped over the gigantic limb before running along the sand boy's arm, ready to kick the boy in the jaw.

What he didn't expect was for a tan blur to swat him directly in the side, this time actually causing him to be sent flying into one of the surrounding trees. Groaning, Sasuke glanced back at the red-head, only quickly dive to the right to avoid another swipe of Gaara's massive claw. Quickly rummaging through his pouch, Sasuke produced three kunai and tossed them at the boy, who merely raised his left arm to block the incoming projectiles.

It was at this time, Sasuke took notice to what was now swaying behind the red-head. It was a single sand made tail, which seemed to sprout from his gourd. Not only that but it was large, larger than the claw from what could assume. How he hadn't noticed something like that before was something he didn't know. Regardless, it was here now and it fucking hurt like hell!

Snarling in annoyance, Gaara lunged himself towards the boy, at even faster speeds than Sasuke had seen before. However, due to the fact that he still had his Sharingan active, he was able to see the attack coming and thus, leapt up towards the highest branch he could find. Sadly he saw a flash of the tail once more and this time he couldn't dodge, leading him to be knocked around with such force that he went crashing through a few of the branches. Luckily, he was able to regain his bearing quickly enough to where he could grab onto the nearest branch to him.

Gripping his ribs in pain as he crouched behind another tree, he glanced back at the boy only for his eyes to widen at what he saw. The attack that Gaara had just sent his way was devastating to say the least and he was rather glad the tail had hit him instead of the claw. For the attack had caused several trees and branches to be torn to shreds. Most of the said trees had huge chunks missing from the sides while others were just smashed in half.

Growling in anger, Gaara turned away from the destruction he had caused and began searching for his prey.

"What's the matter Uchiha Sasuke, are you afraid of me!? Has your fear overtaken the hatred, the killing urge!? Is your reason for existence as puny as that!?"

Sasuke sat in silence as even more memories of their encounter on the cliff continued to pour into his mind. His talks of the two being similar in many ways; like how both had suffered great pain in their lives or that they both held the same eyes that knew what true loneliness was like. And with each passing moment flashes of his family, his clan, and his brother all appeared in front of his eyes.

"If you crave for an answer then come and face me, Uchiha Sasuke!" roared Gaara.

Almost lifelessly, Sasuke returned to his feet, with no emotion clear in his eyes. The pain in his side could no longer be felt as he flashed through seals. After finishing his seals, he gripped his wrist as the familiar sounds of chirping birds filled the air. It was then that an emotion finally reached his eyes, and that emotion was hatred.

'I now know why he left me to live,' thought the boy bitterly as the chirping steadily grew louder. 'He let me live so that he doesn't need to feel guilty about killing the entire clan. Itachi let me live so that I could avenge our clan. The sole reason for my existence is to hunt him, to kill him for all that he has done!'

With this in mind and his Chidori finally complete, he stepped out from behind the tree and glared at Gaara with his hand now completely covered in blue lightning. Gaara could only howl out in laughter as he leaped up towards the raven haired boy with his arm cocked back. Not a second after he leapt, so did Sasuke with his _Chidori_ reared back.

With a fearsome war cry both lunged at each other while in mid air. The two attacks collided and the moment they did, lightning cut through the giant claw with hardly any resistance what so ever. Gaara's screams of pain echoed throughout the wooded area as the two landed back onto the ground. While Sasuke had been able to land safely, Gaara collapsed onto the ground with a loud thump. Glancing over his shoulder towards the downed opponent, Sasuke watched as Gaara gripped his left arm, which had a long cut all the way down the middle of the arm, while his tail lay limply on the ground.

He took notice that Gaara was now… shaking. It couldn't be that the boy was crying over such a wound, though he wouldn't blame him, since the boy seemed to show no emotion at all before, and he had hurt him just as bad earlier and the boy didn't even shed a tear. It was then that he heard it, it was low but it was still there.

A chuckle, a soft but noticeable chuckle in the eerie quiet patch of forest they were fighting in. Soon though it wasn't so soft, soon it evolved into full blown insane laughter coming from the red-head.

"I see, so that's what it was!" yelled out Gaara while still clutching part of his arm. "The reason why I'm so excited, I just got the answer! It's this pain, defeating a man strong enough to hurt me and utterly killing him, that's what gives me an even greater sense of existence!"

To his amazement and frustration, Sasuke watched as Gaara's arm began to reform back into its original state while he began to cry out for more. However, as he watched the boy's arm steadily finish reforming he saw something.

"More I want more!" cried out Gaara only… he didn't see Gaara anymore. Instead he Naruto in his place, with strange diamond like marks covering his body.

'This is the same as then!' thought Sasuke as fear began to return to his heart. He was still spooked from that day and he doubted he would ever forget that fateful encounter in the forest. He had come so close to death then and Gaara was acting just as crazed as Naruto was then.

"Here I come, Uchiha Sasuke!" announced Gaara as he raced forward.

Leaping into the air, Sasuke twisted his body to avoid the lashing tail that almost hit him again and gracefully landed on one of the nearby branches. Flashing though a few hand seals, he took in a great gulp of air before letting go his attack.

"_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu_!"

Glancing up, all Gaara could see was flames… yet he didn't care. He still continued to laugh as he leaped into the flames while using his arm and tail to form a temporary protective sphere to encase himself in before exiting the flames near where Sasuke was located. Once out of the flames, Gaara's two limbs returned to normal and the moment they did, he lunched a downward swipe at the surprised raven-haired Genin. Fortunately, Sasuke had enough time to put up a block to lessen the force and the attack itself merely nicked him.

Yet it appeared as if that was enough since the dark clad boy was sent rocketing through branches and such before finally colliding with a sturdy tree near the border of the forest and the village streets. The boy cried out in agony as his right fore-arm had a very deep gash and blood began to soak his bandages. This only caused Gaara to laugh even louder while he made his way towards his prey intent on finishing off the lone Uchiha.

**Not Far Away**

Naruto's eyes widened as the sound of Sasuke's pain-filled cries echoed though his mind. Not only that but now he could smell the scent of his freshly spilt blood. Growing worried for his teammate and friend, Naruto went even faster while focusing youki throughout his body to trigger his Hanyou form. Yet just as the he felt his body beginning to shift, a powerful kick to the chin sent him directly into a nearby house causing him to leave a gaping hole in the wall.

Groaning, Naruto picked himself out of the rubble that was left from the crash and glanced outside. What he saw was a group of four Oto and six Suna Nin all scattered around the rooftops and street lamps. Scoffing, Naruto stepped out from the household only to be forced to roll out of the way of a shuriken that was aimed at his head. When he was once again back on his feet he found that he was in the center of the large group and each and every enemy was now smirking in satisfaction.

"We have you now, brat," said one Oto Nin who seemed to be the leader among the group. "Kabuto-sama had informed us about your… skills and he has sent us to capture you for future study. If you come quietly then no harm will come to you. However should you choose not to we will be forced to take you down by any means necessary."

"So what's it going to be brat?" sneered one of the Suna Nin on the rooftops.

Naruto was not pleased with this, not one bit. He didn't have time for this bullshit and every second he stood here he was risking the safety of his comrade. So, spitting out a bit of blood that was seeping from his mouth, he raised one hand into the air, before flipping the bird to them all.

"I'm not the type of person to go quietly for anything. So come at me if you dare dirt bags!" yelled out Naruto while focusing youki into his middle finger.

"You heard the brat, get him!" hollered out the supposed leader.

Upon hearing the order, every single ninja except for one leapt at the boy, all of which branding their weapons and flashing through seals. This didn't matter much to Naruto, because he knew they were never going to get close enough to use anything. Lowering his hand until it was strait out in front of him he raised his index finger to join his middle, a familiar whip yellowish-green whip appeared and extended to the ground before he began to spin in place. As he did, the whip began to extend even further until it was almost everywhere around the boy, making it impossible for one to touch him without getting hit by the said whip. Unfortunately for the Oto and Suna Nin, they still assumed that the whip couldn't cut through flesh so they merely thought this act was foolish.

Pity that Kabuto wasn't there, this would have been some vital information on the blonde that would have been beneficial, because when all of Naruto's enemies were just about to reach him, he lashed the whip out, causing it to spread out further away from his body and shred every one of the ninjas approaching him to pieces.

The one Oto nin who was watching this could only stare with widened eyes as all of the squad that was sent to capture the boy was now laying on the ground in a verity of pieces with blood practically everywhere except on the blonde. The boy was no longer spinning now and was currently standing calmly in the center of the carnage while a brief flicker of remorse flashed on his face before vanishing just as quickly as it appeared. When the blonde turned his attention onto the last remaining Oto Nin the man couldn't help but flinch at the glare that was being sent at him.

"Leave or you're next," warned the blonde as he stood waiting to see what the man would do.

The said man was in a predicament of what to do with this situation. Kabuto had made it clear that failure was not an option when it came to the capture of Jinchuuriki and yet he just witnessed the massacre of all his fellow comrades. So, if he ran away Kabuto would kill him or worse and if he tried to capture the boy by himself he would be killed by the boy as well. Clearly not much room for a choice since either way you die.

"Y-y-you fucking little brat!" yelled the man as he dashed towards blonde with a single kunai in hand. He knew that if was going to die he would at least go down on the battlefield and not in some test lab by the likes of Kabuto.

Sadly he didn't even make it anywhere near his target before he was killed. Yet it wasn't Naruto who had done it since he still had his hand on the hilt of his sword in wait. Blinking a few times, Naruto glanced over at the now downed Oto Nin as a person in a black poncho and a mop of brown hair was now on top of the man with a dagger in his throat.

At first he thought it was Metaru again but pushed that aside when he didn't smell his scent. Instead what he smelt of was a mix between wood, oil, metal, and a bunch of other things coming from the newcomer.

"Damn, how many weapons are you packing?" asked Naruto with a bit of a chuckle. When the person didn't respond, he started to get annoyed. He was about to say something else to the unknown person when they suddenly jerked up into the air. It was at that point he saw that the person happened to be a puppet, a weird looking puppet at that.

"Huh, you leave quite a mess don't you?" joked a familiar voice, though Naruto couldn't remember where he heard it before. Glancing up onto the roof of the nearest buildings, he saw a boy wearing a black suit with a bizarre looking hood and purple war-paint on his face who was now sporting a grin while the puppet he saw a second ago was now standing behind him.

"Make-up boy?" asked the blonde.

"IT'S WAR-PAINT DAMNIT!"

Blinking a few more time, Naruto glanced over at the now dead Oto Nin then back at Kankuro. "Aren't you supposed to be on _their_ side?"

The boy only scuffed before pointing at his forehead. "Nope, not anymore."

Squinting his eyes, Naruto glanced at the boy's hitai-ate to find the Konoha symbol instead of the Suna one he used to wear. This made Naruto's eyes widen for a brief moment before raising his eyebrow a bit in confusion.

"How'd this happen?" asked the blonde

"I'll explain latter, for right now you need to get to Gaara," replied the boy with worried frown on his face.

"Oh, right," shaking his head, the boy went to head in the direction that he last caught Sasuke's scent when he heard Kankuro stop him.

"Brat," Naruto turned his head to face the boy who still looked very worried about something. "Be careful and please… don't kill my brother alright?"

All Naruto could do was nod before dashing off to find his comrade while triggering his Hanyou form. Once he transformed, his speed doubled to the point that he almost a blur going down the streets while kicking up dust as he went.

'Hold on Sasuke,' thought the blonde franticly. 'I'm almost there!'

**Back with Sasuke**

Sasuke panted as he sat behind a dumpster in one of a random alleyway while clutching his right forearm. He was in an alleyway because Gaara had managed to knock him out of the forest and into the open streets of the village. At first Sasuke thought he could stall him enough to where if any Jounin or Chuunin were nearby they could easily locate him and lend him some support.

That was a big mistake which not only caused him to end up in the position he was in now, but also ended up with him receiving some rather critical injuries that could have possibly been avoided.

Currently, the boy looked like hell since he was bleeding from both the head and mouth, had three shallow slash marks on his chest, a few bruises on his face and back, and to top it all off, he was barely keeping himself awake. His chakra had been almost completely dried out since Gaara's tail had sprouted and was doing everything he could just to stay alive.

'He just won't let up,' thought the boy while peeking out from behind the dumpster while listening to make sure the boy wouldn't sneak up on him. Though, when the boy had previously been trying to locate him, he would be smashing through almost everything in his way, thus resulting in a few collapsing houses and stores. Yet for the longest time, Sasuke hadn't heard anything and that wasn't a good thing at all. At least when Gaara was making noise, Sasuke could judge how far away the boy was from him. Now that he was silent, it made him paranoid and thus made him search around every corner wherever he was trying to recuperate.

Now, mind you, Sasuke was no coward, not by any stretch of the word. However, as confident as he was, even he knew when to retreat when the odds are stacked against him. Sure, there had been the incident in the Forest of Death when he wanted to bolt yet didn't merely because Naruto had come to his aid.

This case was different; he didn't have Naruto's help this time. He was on his own against an enemy that was, for lack of better term, a monster. Nothing the young Uchiha could do would work on him. His Katon jutsu were all ineffective against Gaara's sand, he already used Chidori on him twice, and Shunshin was his only way of escape from the red-haired juggernaut at the moment. So it was safe to say that this opponent, though more than likely not as strong as the woman in the forest, was someone who he could _not_ take on his own.

Suddenly, just as Sasuke was starting relax somewhat, a loud crash from his right erupted followed by the same claw that had been terrorizing him the entire fight. Rolling out of the way, he was fortunate that he moved in time since not a second after he moved, the claw tore through the opposite wall with little effort. Looking into the cloud of dust that was kicked up from the boy's surprise attack, he could barely make out two glowing yellow eyes piercing through the cloud while boring holes into his own eyes.

When the dust cleared it showed that the boy was no longer the same anymore, and had he not seen this transformation before hand, he wouldn't have known who he was fighting anymore. Now, the right side of Gaara's body was no longer human anymore, instead it was the same as his left was. It seemed even more monstrous than before. Hell the only thing that remained of the boy was the tattoo for 'love' on his forehead, and his legs.

The monstrous being known as Gaara grinned at him as it wrenched its arm free from the wall while not once breaking eye contact with the young Uchiha. Suddenly, Gaara seemed to inhale a great amount of air into his lungs, while dozens of other mouths appeared around his body and do the same. Upon seeing this, Sasuke made a mad dash towards the exit of the alleyway in hopes of getting the hell out of there before Gaara could finish whatever he was preparing to do.

Sadly, he only made it halfway before Gaara finished whatever he was planning to do.

"_Mugen Sajin Daitoppa_!"

Instantly, a powerful gust of wind and sand blew through the narrow alleyway causing everything not nailed down to lift up and shoot out of the narrow space. Sasuke was rather fortunate to be near the end of the narrow corridor, yet wasn't fortunate enough to escape the blast himself. That being said, he, along with everything else in the alleyway was almost instantly shot out of the narrow space with Sasuke crashing through a nearby house along with the dumpster. The boy groaned in pain as he lay sprawled out in the living room of someone's home while sporting several injuries.

Groaning, Sasuke tried to stand only to collapse back onto the ground as his muscles cried out in protest to his movements. Just when he was about to make another attempt to stand, he heard the sound of a faint gasp coming from behind one of the nearby couches. Glancing over, he saw a sight that made his blood almost freeze.

There, not even three feet away from him, was a familiar young woman with brown hair and matching brown eyes. It didn't take too long for him to realize who she was, even if she wasn't in her uniform. It was the girl from the ramen stall that he saw Naruto visit rather frequently, Ayame if his memory served him right.

Ayame, who was now beside the boy, eased him up off his feet while trying her best to remain calm and failing. You see when the attack had started, she had no idea about it until she heard the sounds of metal clashing outside her home. Being a civilian, she was well aware of what to do in case an attack on the village was launched. She was to remain in her home, find the best hiding spot she could find, and wait until the evacuation squad arrived to get her to safety. However, she guessed due to the attack, they had yet to arrive and thus, she was stuck in a secret compartment under the floorboard next to the couch. The only reason she came up was to see if the invasion was over since she hadn't heard anything above for a while.

Currently, she was helping the Uchiha back to his feet, hoping to get him to at least the compartment and give him some medical aid. She wasn't a doctor, but she knew enough to where she could help him with some of his wounds.

"G-get off me and hide," growled out Sasuke while clutching his ribs in pain, "before _he_ shows up."

"No, you need help and I can hide you for a little while. Just hurry up and…" the poor girl didn't even get the chance to finish as a large shadow blocked the suns rays that was coming from the gaping hole in the wall. Fearfully, she looked up only to see the sight of the grinning demon standing with both its claws pressed against the sides of the wall.

Cursing, Sasuke pushed the girl aside before leaping at the beast with a kunai in hand. Gaara was actually surprised by this and had almost no time to react as Sasuke dug his kunai deep into his collarbone. The beast known as Gaara roared in pain while Sasuke pushed all his weight onto him, causing the former red-head to fall on his back with Sasuke pushing his kunai as deep as he could into him.

"Run!" was Sasuke's order before feeling a clawed hand grab him by the back and toss him off, causing Sasuke to go skipping across the street and come crashing into a nearby bench. Snarling, Gaara returned to his feet while, sand poured out of his wound before the kunai was pushed out of his body with no sign that he was ever harmed at all. Glaring at the boy with a snarl, he stalked over towards the fallen Uchiha while the boy made more attempts to get back to his feet only to collapse again.

When he was just an arms length away from him, the beast stopped its advance. Staring down at the battered and bruised form of Sasuke, Gaara grinned as he raised his arm up high in the air while not once taking his eyes off of him.

"You existence ends here Uchiha Sasuke!"

However, fate decided that it was not the Uchiha's time, for just when Gaara was about to deliver the finishing blow, he felt someone jump onto his back before he saw for a brief moment a kunai come directly at his eye before being pierced. The boy screamed in agony before beginning thrashing around, causing the mysterious person to be thrown off his back and landing harshly on the street.

The person hissed in pain before ignoring it and rushing over towards Sasuke before picking him and started moving away as quickly as she could while with the injured Sasuke on her shoulder.

"You stupid fool," groaned Sasuke as his vision started to get blurry.

"Shut up, I saved your life didn't I?" asked Ayame irritably.

"Hn, you remind me of the dobe somewhat."

"Watch it."

She glanced back at the beast to see that it was still thrashing around while clutching his now bleeding and pierced eye. She knew that what she did wasn't the best of choices since that thing could easily kill her without trouble. Still, her father had always said to help those in need and this situation was no different, though very dangerous.

By now the two had gotten a little bit of distance, though not enough to lose sight of Gaara, it was still pretty far. Ayame only had one place in mind that she was headed too, and that was the Hokage Monument. If they could even get close to that location then she knew that there would least be some Jounin or even ANBU around that could get the two to safety while also taking out that monster.

Just then she noticed that Gaara's screams had ceased and replaced with killing intent, a lot of it too. She stopped moving, she even stopped breathing for a good moment before using all of her will power not to faint on the spot. It took even more willpower for her to glance over her shoulder to find that Gaara was now rushing towards them, with his left eye bleeding profusely. Turning back to her charge, bit her lip for what she was about to do, and pushed him with all the strength she could muster at the moment and awaited the impact of Gaara's attack.

Sasuke, not expecting to be pushed aside, turned to face her only to watch as she was brutally swatted down the road with her body skidding to a stop and unconscious. He couldn't believe his eyes, a civilian risked her life to save him from Gaara, a monster who was now stalking towards her with an evil glint in his eye.

He knew what the boy was planning, and he knew that he couldn't let that happen. This wasn't just some no-named woman that he only saw once and never again. This was a woman that was rather close to Naruto, someone he saw as a comrade and begrudging friend. If he just allowed this to happen, if he just laid there and do nothing while Gaara killed one of Naruto's closest friends, he would be the only one to blame. He was here, he was watching, and he could at least try to save her.

So, with great effort, he stumbled to his feet while doing his best to try and not pass out from exhaustion and his injuries. Going into his pouch, he pulled out a familiar compartment, pulled out his second soldier pill, and quickly devoured it. He knew that the chakra he was going to be getting wasn't going to be enough for another _Chidori_, but at the least he could try and manage with what he had.

Blurring through seals, he quickly gripped his wrist before loud chirping could be heard coming from his hand. Rearing his arm back, Sasuke rushed forward, Sharingan blazing to life one last time as Gaara was a few feet away from Ayame. His eyes widened as he felt _Chidori _beginning to fade and gritted his teeth while pumping everything he had into his jutsu. It then that he felt the curse seal on his neck pulse and gasped as chakra began to flood his body while the flame like marks began to spread along his face.

It seemed to have happened in a flash, one minute Gaara was standing a few feet away from Ayame, with the intent of killing the girl. The next minute he was in more pain as his arm fell in a lifeless heap beside him. Sasuke was now kneeling a few feet away from Ayame with a purple _Chidori _still active in his hand. Said boy was panting heavily as the jutsu began to fade away once more. Again he felt the pulse of the curse seal before collapsing on the ground while clutching his shoulder in great pain.

Gaara though grunted in pain for a few moments before sand began to reform his lost appendage back into place. Once this was complete he snarled loudly at the Uchiha before leaping over towards the downed boy with his arm cocked back, aiming to finally finish off the boy before killing the girl who stabbed him in the eye.

However, just as he launched the attack at him, something stopped it right in its tracks. It was then that he felt a strong amount of killing intent being directed at him and it seemed to be coming from in front of him.

Sasuke, who was barely conscious, glanced up to see the ever familiar sight of silver and orange hair with a single hand blocking the giant claw that was not far away from him. He didn't need to see the face to know who saved him, and smirked a bit at the boy.

"You're late… Naruto," murmured Sasuke

The said boy glanced over his shoulder with his golden slitted eyes staring back at Sasuke with a smirk hidden behind his bangs. "Sorry, got lost on the road of life."

Turning his attention back on the beast in front of him, Naruto snarled before pushing the large appendage aside as though it was nothing. After doing this he rushed forward and delivered a powerful punch to Gaara's abdomen, causing Gaara's eyes to widen behind the strength that put behind it. In fact it was so great, that he was actually sent _flying _off his feet and into one of hopefully empty buildings with a loud crash.

"Hope they got insurance," mumbled Naruto sheepishly before his face turned serious. "Sasuke, take Ayame-chan and get as far away as you can. Do you think you can do that?"

In response, Sasuke groaned loudly before stumbling to his feet while doing his best to ignore the great jolts of pain the seal and all his wounds were causing. He was about to walk over and get the girl when he saw that Naruto had already went over and picked the girl off the ground and was bringing her over to him. Gently, he eased the girl onto Sasuke's shoulder and helped the boy get her secured onto him. Once done, Sasuke turned to leave when Naruto placed his hand on his only free shoulder, causing the boy to turn and face him.

"Sasuke," said the boy with a small smile on his face. "Thank you."

And for the first time in many years, Uchiha Sasuke gave a full smile before turning away and hobbling off, doing his best to stay awake and ignore the immense pain he was in. Naruto smiled back at the departing Sasuke for a moment before recomposing himself back to his original seriousness. Turning back to face where Gaara should be, he wasn't disappointed when he saw Gaara step out of the hole from inside the building while snarling at the silver haired boy in front of him.

Cracking his knuckles, Naruto extended his claws before entering his fighting stance. "Let's go, Sabaku no Gaara."

The beast known as Gaara grinned before lunging forward with his arm cocked back, ready to strike his newest opponent. "Make me feel alive, Uzumaki Naruto!"

* * *

Well there you have it people, the chapter that will bring lots of anticipation for you guys. I personally liked Ayame's brief moment of bravery, since I think it would show how even as civilians, the people of Konoha have the Will of Fire in their hearts. Also, just so you guys know, the next chapter will be the Kage fight, which I can assume many are dying to see. Though its going to be difficult, I can guess I have all of your support on this.

Naruto: You have my support SF!

Me: Aw, thank you Naruto, just for that I won't turn you into a kit again.

Yugito: NO!

Killer Bee: Um, SF.

Me: Yeah?

Killer Bee: You might want to start running...like right now man.

Me: Why?

Naruto: 'Cause I think Yugito-chan is going to beat the ever living crap out of you.

Me: (Takes a few steps back) N-now Yugito, you know that I can't keep doing that just for your sake...right?

Yugito: (Lightning crackles around her fist) You. Will. DIE!!!

(I run away screaming with Yugito right on my heels.)

Gaara: (Walks into the room) Did I miss something?

Naruto: (Sweatdrops) No.

Killer Bee: R&R to save SF from Yugito's wrath. If you don't Yugito will come after you and beat the hell out of you...and shock you to death.

Me: Gaara PLEASE give me back my Enchanted Stick!!!

Gaara: (Random armchair and bag of popcorn appear where Gaara is.) No, this is enjoying to watch.

Naruto: Are you going to share those?

Me: GOD DAMNIT!!!!!


	21. Clash of the Kage's

Yo people! Sorry for the long wait but, uh, I got lost trying to find my room. (Insert sweatdrop) But, besides that, I've finally managed to get this out to you guys. Mind you, it hasn't been beta read yet so don't bash it too much alright. Also, just for the record, I've been working on the 4th chapter of my other story: Life Lingers After Death so keep an eye out for it. I know that a lot of people liked it and that they tell me to hurry up and update it so I am. Anyway, I'll explain my reason's for updating that story for so long when the chapter comes out, so lets get on with the next chapter people!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_ Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Orochimaru was pissed, no, pissed was too light of a term to describe how angry he felt at the moment. He was downright furious with the sudden turn of events that his sensei had, literally, pulled out of his bag. Now originally, he was planning to not only overwhelm his sensei with two of the strongest ninja's that the village had produced, but also attack the old goat emotionally, forcing Sarutobi to reminisce his past encounters with the two as they fought.

What he didn't count on was the appearance of both the Yondaime Raikage and the Jinchuuriki of the Hachibi, and brother of the Raikage, Kirabi. In doing this, Sarutobi had put all of his plans of making this battle rather simple, into something completely complicated. Still, on the brighter note, he still had both Shodaime and Nidaime at his command and that alone was a rather good benefit to have.

"It seems you have some rather support in this battle as well sensei." Stated Orochimaru while smirking back at the three in front of him. "It doesn't matter, the results will be the same regardless of who you are."

"Yo bro, this asshole thinks we're weak or somethin', you want to rip his tongue out or can I do it?"

The Raikage only frowned before staring back at the snake-like man while tossing away his Kage robs and hat, making a loud clank once they made contact with the tiled floor signifying that they were indeed weighted. His attire was a simple pair of black pants, a white sash around his waist, and black sandals while his torso was deprived of a shirt, leaving his rather ripped torso to be shown to all.

"Kirabi…allow Hokage-domo have that privilege instead." Replied the man finally while staring intently at Shodaime. "I'll deal the one in red."

"Tch, fine, I got the blue-dude alright?"

"Fine, are you ready Hokage-domo?"

The said man only smirked before rushing forward, with Kirabi and the Raikage behind him. Orochimaru sneered at the three approaching and ushered his two pawns to engage. Wordlessly, the two complied as they both raced forward, each aiming for Sarutobi, who was leading the group of Kage level ninja. As the group came closer, the Raikage began flashing through seals while Kirabi quickly removed one of his swords off his back and began to channel lightning into it.

Just when Hitoyama finished his seals, both the previous Hokage's had leapt into the air, both of which flashing through seals as well. Skidding to a halt, the man quickly focused chakra into his hands before slamming both his palms onto the tiled floor as he called out his jutsu.

"_Doton: Koushin Sekichuu_!"

Instantly, the ground below everyone shook for a few seconds before two pillars of rock and dirt burst from the ground and stuck both of the descending Hokage's directly in the chest, causing both to be sent flying once the two pillars had connected with their targets.

"We have those two Hokage-dono, the rest is yours." Stated Hitoyama before rushing towards the Shodaime, who was just now returning to his feet.

"Kick his ass monkey." Said Kirabi as he too raced towards Nidaime as white lightning began to crackle around his blade.

Skidding to a stop in front of Orochimaru, the elderly Hokage glared at the man who was now glaring back at him while clinching his fist in anger. Thinking back to it, he was quite glad Hitoyama had given him the scrolls earlier before the exams started. Though, he was confused as to how the Raikage had acquired such information about what Orochimaru had planned, even if he didn't know about the invasion, he was grateful that he had their assistance since doing this on his own would have proven difficult.

"Before we begin, my foolish student, are you willing to answer an inquiry of mine?"

The man gave no verbal confirmation to what his sensei had asked, he merely raised an eyebrow in confusion which, Sarutobi guessed, interpreted him to proceed with his question.

"What, after all this time and waiting, are you hoping to gain?"

The pale man's eyes gleamed with amusement at that while licking his lips with his unnaturally long tongue.

"Ah now that my dear sensei is something worth asking compared to a multitude of things you could have asked me. The reason behind my…postponing of this village's downfall is quite simple. I wanted something, something that would help me accomplish my ambition of eternal life. What I wanted, and still want, are the eyes that can turn even the great Kyuubi no Kitsune into an obedient little pet. The eyes that can break a person's will by merely looking at them. The eyes that can bring forth fire that will burn for days without stop."

"…I see, so that's what you seek, my foolish student." Remarked Sarutobi with narrowed eyes.

"Yes, what I seek are that of the Sharingan along with the boy who wields them."

"You're a fool to think that you can bring Uchiha Sasuke to your side, even with the seal you placed onto him he will not go willingly."

"Oh how wrong you are Sarutobi-sensei." Replied the snake Sennin with a chuckle. "I know of Sasuke's obsession to kill his brother and once he realizes what power I can give him, he will seek me out in hopes of gaining that power."

"Then what was the purpose of giving Naruto the curse seal?"

That actually made the Snake Sennin's chuckle turn into a loud cackle which seemed to echo throughout the area. When the man's laughter finally died he glanced back at his sensei while giving him the most sinister smirk Sarutobi had ever seen on his face.

"The Jinchuuriki, yes, I had almost forgotten about the boy. Yes, he is a fine tool to be used should he come searching for me as well. I will admit that the boy does have a strong will, but I have no doubts that this village will cast him out the moment he is no longer useful, thus forcing him to come to me in hopes of gaining revenge. Also I have been informed of his actions during the exams when my curse seal finally activated and I was beyond pleased to find the very thing I was looking for in that boy."

"What would that be Orochimaru?" Asked Sarutobi while suddenly becoming more interested and concerned with what his former student had to say.

The man only chuckled lightly before giving his reply. "Simple: Rage, hate, insanity, bloodlust, and above all power burning deep within those eyes of his. That is what makes him a valuable tool in my plans of immortality. Should he prove useful, he might just become my next host after I take over Sasuke's that is."

"Next host?" asked Sarutobi with a raised eyebrow

Confused, Sarutobi watched as Orochimaru lifted his hand to his face before peeling it off, similar to how he had done so earlier when he was portending to be the Kazekage. When he finally pulled the flesh off his face, Sarutobi gasped at the sight at which he saw.

"I-I can't believe this." Gasped out Sarutobi while feeling the urge to kill the man in front of him grow even more.

Reason why was because, standing in front of him, was not the face of the young man who he had trained as a Genin. Instead, the man's face was now replaced with that of a young woman, who still had golden slitted eyes, and unnaturally long tongue. The said young woman was smirking at him in a similar way that Orochimaru had earlier. But, just by looking at it, Sarutobi felt uneasy seeing how low Orochimaru had fallen in his ambition for immortality.

"You see now Sarutobi-sensei?" asked Orochimaru mockingly, while his normal voice was replaced with a very feminine one instead.

"T-this is just madness!" Raged Sarutobi while clinching his fists even tighter than before.

"Say what you will sensei, but it is well worth the sacrifice if I do say so myself. After all, _Fushi Tensei _is a forbidden technique for a reason now isn't it sensei?"

By now, Sarutobi was shaking in rage at what his former student, no; this man didn't deserve to be called his student anymore. He couldn't believe what this _monster _had done just for his own selfish desires of immortality. What really fueled the fire of rage was that he could have ended this man's madness years ago, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Orochimaru," Growled out Sarutobi, while biting his thumb causing blood to flow from his finger. "It was a mistake in letting you live all those years ago. Rest assured that today I will rectify that mistake."

Once that was said, Sarutobi quickly flashed through seals before slamming his palm on the ground while calling out. "_Kuchiyose no Jutsu_!" A second later, a puff of smoke signified the arrival of his summon. When it cleared, it revealed a white haired ape in ninja attire along with a Konoha hitai-ate on its forehead. The said ape glanced around for a brief moment until his eyes locked with Orochimaru's golden slitted eyes.

"Orochimaru…so it has come to this after all." Growled out the ape before turning his attention towards Sarutobi. "Your pathetic you know that right? This wouldn't have happened if you'd had just killed him the last time."

"I know of this Enma, but rest assured that this monster will not be living after today." Replied the elderly Hokage with a frown.

"This could have been over before it started Sarutobi."

"Enma, use it so that we can be rid of this snake."

"Hai." Replied the ape before forming a seal. "_Henge: Kongounyoi_!"

Another puff of smoke later, a long black staff with golden tips on both ends appeared beside him. Grasping the weapon, Sarutobi twirled the staff in his hands, just to get re-familiar with the weapon he hadn't used in years, before entering his battle stance while glaring holes at Orochimaru, who had covered his female face with his own original one.

Without words, the pale man opened his mouth, while a single green snake slithered out of it. The serpent hissed at Sarutobi before opening its own maw to reveal the tip of a blade. Soon the entire blade was risen out of the snake's maw until only the hilt was what remained inside it. Then the blade raised itself out of the snake's jaws and hovered in the air for a brief moment before Orochimaru grasped the hilt of his blade while the snake retreated back into its master's body.

"Shall we begin my dearest sensei?" mocked the man while entering his own battle stance.

"Yes, my foolish student," Snarled out Sarutobi before rushing forward, "Let us begin!"

**With the Raikage**

"So, you're founder of this village." Stated the Raikage, also known as Hitoyama, before smirking. "I must say, it turned out pretty well."

The dark skinned man received no reply from the red clad man, only a blank and, for lack of better term, dead stare. Hitoyama's smirk fell into a scowl as he stared back at the man while suppressing the urge to shudder under the intensity of the man's stare. Don't misunderstand, he wasn't too concerned about this fight, since he too was a Kage and a powerful one at that, but the look in this man's eyes just struck him as kind of creepy. How couldn't you be a tad bit unnerved by the sight of a dead man looking back at you?

He was taken out of his small stupor by the sound of Shodaime's foot shifting, ever so slightly, away from him. In Hitoyama's translation, it meant that the man was about to charge, and he was ready for whatever the man was going to do.

He wasn't disappointed cause, a few seconds later, Hashirama rushed forward in quick speeds. Smirking, Hitoyama blocked the attack with ease and sent his own fist at the man's skull, which the man had avoided just as easily. After dodging the attack, Hashirama quickly hopped onto the man's massive fore arm, and sent a kick to the man's chin. The only reaction that got out of the Raikage was a his head snapping backward for a second before returning his gaze back onto the man in front of him.

Growling, Hitoyama grabbed the red clad man's arm and heaving him into the air, over his hand, and slamming him back onto the ground. Once the man was on the ground, he raised his foot and slammed it down onto the man's head, only for his opponent to roll out of the way to avoid his skull being crushed.

Without missing a beat, the dark skinned man rushed towards his opponent while flashing through seals. However, just as he was about to perform his last seal, a branch burst from the ground and wrapped itself around his ankle. Due to this, it caused him to lose focus on his jutsu, and thus resulting him stumbling onto the ground where other branches had arisen and started ensnaring his entire body in thick vines and other plants until he was completely covered.

Having the man trapped, Hashirama went through his own set of seals before raising his hand into the air, causing long spears of bamboo to peirce through the spot in which the Raikage lay entangled. For a few moments, there was silence, before the branches uncoiled themselves off of Hitoyama only to reveal a pile mud in his place.

Had Hashirama been able to show emotion, he would have surely been surprised by this. More so when the said man reappeared to his left and delivered a powerful right hook to the man's face. The force behind the said punch were astonishing as Shodaime was sent clean off his feet and skipping along the ground before finally skidding to a stop about ten feet away.

Hitoyama watched as his opponent rise back to his feet with his back hunched over and his arms sagging. He scowled when he noted that the red armored man didn't even seem to be staggering in the slightest. To him, the fight so far seemed to be a never ending battle that was most definitely not in his favor. This theory was confirmed when Hashirama raised his head to show that his jaw was now broken and hanging off his face while bits of ash began to surround his face.

He watched in anger as the ash that was hovering around his face began to mend the broken jaw back into place. When the cloud of ash finally dispersed, Hashirama's face was now completely repaired, leaving no significations that the man was even injured at all.

'Perfect,' thought Hitoyama irritably, 'I'm fighting against something that's not only dead, but can regenerate itself; just fucking peachy.'

When the ash completely dispersed, a fully rejuvenated Hashirama stood staring back at him with the same dead eyes as before. Hitoyama didn't like the look, hell he didn't even like the fact he was fighting the freaking undead! So, with a snarl, he began to try and think of a something that he could do to beat this man. It was apparent that physical attacks would only be a waist of energy. Ninjutsu wasn't much of an option either since he would just reform back to normal. Genjutsu was a defiant hell no since he could not perform them, but he doubted a dead man would he fooled by most of the illusions with maybe the exception of one that blinded him which, even he could perform Genjutsu, doubted that it would be useful.

He was broken from his thoughts when Hashirama's fist was headed straight for his face. He quickly ducked under the attack and sent a roundhouse kick to the man's ribs. He was surprised when the man caught his kick by the ankle and twisted it. Fortunately, he had jumped in the air at the right moment to have the momentum of Shodaime's actions cause his whole body to twist in the air while bringing his other leg up and sent yet another kick to the man's jaw. This time, his opponent wasn't able to block and thus was hit yet again in the jaw by a powerful force that almost sent him just as far as before, had it not been for the fact that he had sent chakra to his feet to keep him from flying off too far.

When both men returned to their feet, both began to flash through seals in a rapped pace, and both doing about thirty seals in the course of ten to fifteen seconds. However, it was Hashirama who had finished his seals first.

"_Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu._"

Instantly, multiple spikes of wood shot off his now extended arm and towards Hitoyama, who had foregone the original jutsu he had planned to use and instead, started doing seals for a different one. Just when the spikes were about three feet away from him, he had been able to finish the last of his seals and slammed his hands onto the ground before calling out his technique.

"_Doton: Doro Gaeshi_!"

At the last moment, just when the several conjoined spikes of wood arrived at their target, a thick slab of earth had risen where Hitoyama had slammed his hands down upon and collided with it. He was relieved for a moment when the sound of wood snapping and breaking filled the air. That relief left him when the spikes maneuvered themselves around the slab of earth and started heading towards him once again.

Cursing, Hitoyama dashed off with the spikes of wood not far behind him. Flashing through a new set of seals, he leaped into the air with the spikes trailing behind him and gaining fast. When his seals were finally done, the man whirled around and pointed his index finger at the spikes while electricity danced all around his hand and forming a small sphere near the tip of his finger.

"_Raiton: Rai Nami Taihou_!"

A bright flash of lightning later, a large portion of the wooden projectiles were now burnt to a crisp while the whole conjoined column fell to the ground. Smirking in satisfactory, he glanced back over to his opponent only to find that the man was now in the air with him. Without any time to react, the Shodaime grabbed hold of his head with both hands and forced it down which connected to Hashirama's rising knee. As the dark skinned man reared his head back in pain, Hashirama took advantage of the situation and spun mid air then delivered a kid to the man's ribs, sending him tumbling down to the ground while kicking up dust and tiles upon his landing. Groaning, Hitoyama went to stand only to hear the Shodaime's voice utter another jutsu.

"_Mokuton: Jubaku no Jutsu_."

In the span a few seconds, boards of wood shot out from beneath him and wrapped themselves around his upper body, with his arms bound close to his chest. Hitoyama tried to force the boards off but was unsuccessful. Glancing back at the Shodaime, the man had already began flashing through more seals and before he knew it, a total of ten thick vines had risen out of the ground and wrapped themselves around his arm before morphing together into what looked like a giant spear.

Cursing, Hitoyama began struggling even harder on his restraints as the Shodaime reared his arm back. He could feel the bindings begin to creek and break as he put more and more force into it but knew that he wouldn't be able to break them in time to avoid the attack. It was then that he noticed that the restraints that pinned his arms to his sides were no longer as strong as they were before. Glancing up, he saw that the spear was about strike and, with the little room he had, clasped his hands together into a single seal.

The moment he made his seal, the spear had shot towards him, aimed directly at his heart. However, when the weapon connected, the tip had broken with a loud crack.

"_Doton:_," Said Hitoyama with a smirk as his already dark skin turned even darker. "_Domu_"

With one last heave, he felt the binds around him creek in protest until finally the boards had snapped and fell harmlessly to the ground. In instant his binds were off, he rushed towards the man with his body still effected by the jutsu he had just used, and sent a powerful kick to the other man's jaw, sending him high into the air.

Not wasting any time, Hitoyama flashed through a new set of seals before slamming his hands down onto the ground once again.

"_Doton: Dokasui no Jutsu_!"

A few moments later, as Hashirama was descending towards the ground, a large spike shot out from where the man was supposed to land and pierced him directly into his chest. In attrition to that, his body continued to sink down as the spike continued to expand and rise higher into the air until it connected with the barrier that surrounded the area.

Glancing at the man who was now stuck in the center of the spike, he flashed through a few more seals while taking notice that his chakra storages were started getting low. He knew that after this, he most likely would have enough for maybe two or three more jutsu before he was forced to rely solely on Taijutsu.

Once his seals were completed, he raised his now open palm at the red armored man, who was now struggling to get off the spike, as blue lightning crackled around his entire right arm while steadily forming a sphere in the center of his palm. When the lightning around his arm died down the sphere in his hand was now the size of his own fist with bolts of lightning crackling around it.

"_Raiton: Doki no Jouten_!"

Describing it as a simple lightning bolt would be considered gross understatement of the attack that was unleashed. Hell even outside the barrier, the Anbu had been forced to shield their eyes due to the sheer brightness that was produced by the said attack. The jutsu, unlike most of the other Raiton based jutsu, wasn't just a simple flash of lightning being fired. It was a beam, similar to that of a lazier, of compressed and crackling lightning that had been fired from Hitoyama's hand. When the attack had connected with its opponent, all that could be seen was a faint outline of the said man before the light made it impossible to see him any longer. Even the barrier seemed to have suffered from the attack, as ripples could clearly be seen due to the damage it had sustained.

Unfortunately, despite how difficult it was, the four shinobi that had produced the barrier were still able to sustain the barrier while also repairing the hole that was made by the Raikage's attack.

When the light finally died down, the spike that once held Shodaime trapped onto it was now gone from the tip all the way to where Hashirama once was. Even the at the very end which remained of the spike was now glowing bright red do the heat that was brought off from the attack.

None the less, Hitoyama scanned the area for any signs of his undead opponent. Though he doubted the man escaped, he knew that, unless nothing was left of him, he would regenerate himself once more hence why he used such a taxing jutsu on him. Glancing down at his now steaming and quivering hand, he grimaced as he tried to clinch it into a fist only to feel jolts of pain shoot through his entire arm.

'Sometime's I wish I was a Jinchuuriki, if nothing else for the healing abilities.' Thought the man before he continued his search for the Shodaime.

It was then that he noticed something from behind the column of earth that used to be a spike. A single arm, made purely out of wood along with several other chunks of wood scattered around it.

"_Moku Bunshin_?" Asked the man to himself before his eyes widening at the feeling of something piercing him in the back.

Hashirama, with his eyes still showing no emotion, swiftly pulled the kunai out of the man's back while listening to the man hiss in pain from the surprise attack. As he went to stab him again, the man quickly whirled around and caught his wrist before slamming his foot into his chest.

Panting, Hitoyama observed his opponent as he tried to return to his feet. Key word tired considering the upper left portion of his body was no longer there. Instead was a gaping hole, which left only his right bicep and arm. Everything else on the left side of his body was no longer there with the exception being his face, and even then most of the flesh had been peeled off showing all the muscle and bone they lay beneath. Even under the severe damage that the man had received, ash hovered around his body as it immediately began to repair the damage at an alarming rate.

"This thing just won't stay dead." Grumbled Hitoyama angrily. "Guess I'll just have to obliterate you till there's nothing left!"

And with that, the dark skinned man raced over towards his opponent, whose arm was now half way completed, while hoping that he could somehow defeat the man without dying in the process.

**With Kirabi**

One of the things that drove Kirabi up the wall was someone who didn't respond to some of his rather…bad rapping skills. Sure, he knew he sucked but the reason he did it most of the time was to either annoy his opponent, or have them lose focus. Well, that wasn't the case all the time, he mostly did it to piss people off and to generally get better at his rapping skills.

So when Nidaime, Tobirama, just stared at him with no emotion in his eyes, it made him quite annoyed. What made it worse was the fact that the man showed no indication that he was even going to reply to anything he said. Thus, it led him to be even more annoyed with the man than he already was.

"Aw, come on blue dude, at least say something!" Yelled Kirabi in frustration, "Anything, just one word will be cool with me man!"

The said man didn't break eye contact with his emotionless gaze. Finally, and standing for a few minutes in complete silence, he flashed through seals in a rapid pace before clapping his hands together.

"_Suiton: Suishouha_." Announced the man in a monotone voice.

In the span a few seconds, a large portion of water began to gather around the man from out of nowhere and was currently forming a miniature tornado and was growing in size. After a few moments, he made a gesture with his now parted hands towards his opponent, which made the large tower of water come crashing down and come rushing towards the Kumo nin.

"Aw, shit." Muttered Kirabi as the large body of water came closer towards him while crouching down a bit.

Leaping as high into the air as he could, while pumping chakra into his legs for an added boost, he was able to avoid the crashing waves below him. However, he noticed that Tobirama was now in the air with him, kunai in hand as he came closer towards him. Unfortunately for him, Kirabi still had his sword unsheathed from when he went to engage him before hand and thus, blocked the kunai that had been aimed for his shoulder. Upon landing onto the now flooded portion of the battlefield, both opponents charged the other each with their own weapon's draw.

As the two passed by each other, the sound of metal connecting with metal filled the air followed by the splash of something falling into the water. Glancing down at his kunai Tobirama saw that half of his kunai had been cut in half, leaving only the handle left. A second after he noticed this, a large gash formed on the chest peace of his armor. Kirabi smirked as he let the lightning that was once crackling around his sword fade back to normal before turning to face his opponent with a smirk on his features.

"What, chu think blue dude? These swords are full a tricks not just for kicks…Man, I gotta write that one down."

Sheathing his sword he quickly pulled out his note pad and pin from out of nowhere, he began scribbling down notes. Had he looked up at his opponent, he would have seen the once scratched armor piece being repaired by small particles of ash. Once he was finished scribbling down his notes, he put his pen and notepad away only to find that his opponent was now gone.

Raising an eyebrow, he felt a presence behind him and whirled around to throw a punch to his opponents face. He was correct in that his opponent was indeed behind him, yet he didn't expect the man to leap over his attack. More so, he didn't expect the man to twist his body mid air, grab the two hilts to his swords, and unsheathe them from their respective scabbards all in the span of a few seconds that he was overhead.

When the man landed on the water, he quickly adjusted them to where one was held in its normal position while the other was held in a reverse grip, with the blade facing away from Kirabi. Once done, he slid into his battle position with one sword pointing at Kirabi, and the other being position by his side.

Throughout all of this, Kirabi had yet to move from his position. If one were able to see through his sunglasses, you would be able to see the look of pure rage blazing in his eyes. Now, in Kumo, most people who were associated with Kirabi knew that he only had one rule. He didn't care about anything else except for that rule, and what it was is something _everyone_ knew and obeyed, even his brother.

Never, ever by any means of the word, touch his swords. Those who were stupid enough to do so met a very brutal and painful beating.

"Mother fucker," Spoke Kirabi in an eerily dark tone. "You did not just do what I think you did."

Had Tobirama been given emotions, he more than likely would have been a bit shaken by the amount of killing intent being sent at him. Yet, seeing as how he was emotionless, he wasn't affected by the staggering aura that now surrounded Kirabi and thus, rushed towards the man who's back was still facing him.

"Nobody," Muttered Kirabi darkly as he grasped hold two of his swords. "Ever."

Upon reaching striking range Nidaime thrust the blade towards his back, aiming to pierce him in the heart. In the spit second he did this, Kirabi had whirled around, had both his blades unsheathed, deflected the blade, and brought his other blade down, severing the man's forearm from the elbow.

"Touches my swords." Finished the man before twisting his blade to where it was facing his opponent and sent a diagonal slash to the man's head, hoping to sever it as well.

He wasn't given the satisfactory of this since the man's leaned back to avoid it before jumping back a few feet away. It further infuriated the Kumo nin when he saw that he was still holding his blade and that the stub called his arm, was surrounded by ash. On the plus side for him, he had at least gotten one of his swords back so at least cooled him off a bit, though not much.

After retrieving his sword, he glanced back up at the man to find that his forearm was now back in place. Perplexed by how this had happened, he also noticed that there was no trace of him hitting him the first time on his armor.

'What the hell keeps doing this?'

'**It's that stupid ash you dumb ass!' **Screeched the voice of his tenant.

'Hachibi, when da hell'd you wake up?'

'**Bout the time you got pissed off at the faggot for taking a few of your swords.'**

'Sorry 'bout that, you know how it is right Eight-O?'

'**Stop calling me that damn it!**'

'…my bad.'

Before the conversation could continue anymore, Tobirama rushed towards him, sword still in hand and arched back. Swinging his blade, Kirabi blocked the horizontal using both his swords before raising one of them and slamming it down on the blade, forcing it be repelled backwards leaving an opening for him to send a kick to the man's chest. The force behind his kick caused the blue armored man to be sent skipping along the water before skidding to a stop while still remaining on top of the surface.

When the man tried to return his sights on his opponent, he found that he was gone. It only took him a few seconds to realize where his opponent had disappeared to. Taking notice to the reflection off the water he saw that the man was descending upon him with both swords raised high. Raising his own blade to block the attack, the three blades clashed as his feet began to sink into the water due to the force that was put behind the attack.

The two struggled for a brief moment before Kirabi touched down onto the water and broke off from his enemy. Whirling around in a complete circle, he sent the blade in his left hand to cleave his opponent in half while sending the other in a diagonal slash to catch the man off guard just in case. Sadly, the blue armored man easily parried the first strike and deflected the second before sending a kick to the bigger man's ribs.

The blow connected, yet Kirabi wasn't affected in the slightest. Grabbing hold of the man's leg as he went to leap back, he quickly raised his arm up high before slamming his elbow down on the man's leg, just a few meters below the kneecap. The loud and sickening snap of bones being broken made the Anbu who were still watching wince briefly before recomposing themselves as Kirabi jabbed his sword deep into Tobirama's skull, causing the man's head to cock back a bit.

Yet, even with a broken leg and a sword to the head, Nidaime still flashed through a string of seals as four small whirlpools began to form around the two.

"_Suiton: Suigadan_." Stated the man quietly with his head still cocked back.

Gasping in surprise, Kirabi had jumped back just in time to avoid four spinning drills made of pure water from tearing him to pieces. Once the drills had sloshed back into the water, he glared at Nidaime as his prior broken leg had been repaired with bit of ash still lingering around it. His glare intensified when Tobirama, with his head still cocked back, brought his hand up to the hilt of the sword in his head and easily slid it out. After that, the man brought his head up to stare lifelessly at the dark skinned man before re-settling himself back into the battle stance as the stab wound on his forehead healed itself.

Growing frustrated with the man, Kirabi rushed forward with Tobirama following suit as well. As the two neared the other, both swung their respective blade's at almost the exact same moment before clashing together. Then, just as quickly as the two connected, they broke apart while swinging the other, with Kirabi attacking with his left sword and Tobirama blocking with his right sword. After the two blades connected again, Nidaime swung his other blade at Kirabi's causing it to be jerked into the air and, with the new opening he had made, used his previous sword to try and attack the man.

Kirabi, however, expected this, and thus quickly dropped down and went to sweep the other man's legs out from under him. It would have worked hadn't the man jumped over his attack and sent another swipe down upon him as he was coming down. Raising his blade, the dark skinned man was able to block the attack but was not expecting the kick sent to his jaw by the man a few seconds later. Thus, he knocked onto his back with a grunt before having to roll out of the way of another lung of Tobirama's swords.

This didn't stop the blue armored Hokage as he went to stab the man before he was able to his feet. That was until Kirabi hurled one of his swords into his chest, causing him to stagger back a bit. That was all the man needed, as he pumped a bit of chakra into his hands and pushed off, while raising both his feet out and slamming them into his opponent's chest, causing him to be brought onto his back with Kirabi still on top of him. Upon the man's back hitting the water's surface, he quickly grabbed the hilt to his sword and pushed off the man's chest with such force that, not only the blade came free from his opponent's body, it caused him to be pushed deep down underwater until he collided with the tiled ground below the water.

As Kirabi landed safely on the water's surface a couple feet away, Nidaime's undead corps came floating back to the surface before steadily returning to his feet. Not wanting to give the man any time to recover, the Jinchuuriki rushed forward with both his swords on each side of his body. When Tobirama was on his feet, Kirabi was just a few feet away from him and was closing the distance between them by the second. Throwing the swords in the air, Tobirama formed only one hand seal just as Kirabi was within striking distance.

"_Suiton: Mizurappa_."

Under his sunglasses, Kirabi's eyes widened as a jet of water erupted from Tobirama's mouth and completely took him off guard. The said jutsu had come crashing into his chest, causing him skidding along the water while doing his best not to be blown away by the attack. When the jet of water finally stopped, he was met with pain in his right shoulder, due to the blue armored man who still had a firm grip on the hilt of the sword. Grunting, Kirabi tried to punch the man off him, only to have his attack avoided and receive a kick to his abdomen, forcing out most of the air in his lugs.

Taking further advantage of the situation, Tobirama sent a powerful left hook to Kirabi's chin, followed by impaling the other sword in his hand into his opponent's abdomen, before grabbing hold of the hilt to the other sword that was still deep in his shoulder and ripping them both out of his body, causing blood to seep out of the wounds and mix with the water both were standing on. He wasn't done however, as he brought the blade in his left hand down upon him, which Kirabi tried to avoid only to have his vest be slashed in half in the process.

Kirabi winced a bit as the pain in his shoulder and stomach began to mend themselves back together due to his tenant's aid. Ignoring the pain, He glared back at the blue armored man while grabbing what remained of his vest and ripping it off. Both fighter's stood in silence as they stared each other down, one in growing annoyance while the other was simply empty and emotionless. Yet those eyes, even after being subjected to Nidaime's outstanding display of power and skill, still made him feel uneasy.

Now he knew very well what he was getting into when he decided he was going to help out the Hokage in this battle. Sure, he expected to bear witness to some of the most unique and bizarre jutsu from the snake Sennin. But to be fighting against a Hokage, an undead one at that, was not what he had expected. Also, judging from what he was able to do thus far, nothing was going to be stopping this opponent. No matter what he tried, nothing seemed to keep it down long enough to think of a way to effectively defeat it.

'This just aint workin man.' Thought the man while flexing his now healed arm.

'**No shit, this guy's a fucking Kage for a good reason.'**

'Wha chu think I should do?'

'**If you want to crush him entirely, I'd say get serious and break me out on his ass. If you want to continue playing around, I'd say keep doing what you're doing now and pray he doesn't kill you.'**

'Fuck playing, I just want this asshole dead.'

'**He's already dead dip shit!'**

'…Then I'll just kill blue dude again.'

'…**I swear sometimes you're just retarded.' **

Nodding to himself while ignoring his tenant's comment, he watched as Tobirama raised hisblades in a battle ready position before sighing loudly. Truthfully, he didn't want to break this out yet, since he only reserved it for whenever he thought he might die. Those occasions were scarce as it was since only a select few individuals had driven him to the point of using Hachibi's chakra. Now though, he knew that if he was expected to even live through this fight, he needed it.

So, after sheathing his swords back into their scabbards, he raised his arm high into the air before letting out a loud howl. Tobirama, finding this as an opening, rushed towards him with both swords dragging through the water as he ran. When he had gotten closer however, he was forced back as a massive amount of chakra began to poor out from Kirabi's body. In fact, the amount of chakra that was being produced was so immense, that the water the man was standing on was beginning to part, forming a small circle around him as muddy green chakra began to form a cloak around his entire body.

As the moments ticked by and the chakra levels continued to rise, the chakra that was hovering around him began to form, what appeared to be, tails. It began with one, then two, then four, until eight cephalopod like tails of pure chakra were swaying behind him. Not only that, but the man himself had gained a more, ferial like appearance, such as fangs, claws, and other such changes.

When the chakra spike finally died down, Kirabi was left standing on the tiled roof as the water surrounding him parted, as though it was afraid to even go near the Jinchuuriki. The Anbu outside, who were still silently watching the battle accrued, gasped at what they were witnessing.

"H-h-he's a demon too!" Exclaimed a man with a tiger mask.

"Why would Sandaime allow a Jinchuuriki to fight alongside him, let alone enter our village?!" Stated another in a weasel mask.

"Silence, both of you!" Ordered the commander, who was wearing a baboon mask. "This man is not our enemy, what other purpose would he have if he aided in this battle?"

"To gain our trust?"

"Don't be so single minded. Not even Kumo is foolish enough to try the same stunt twice in only seven years."

Both men kept silent at that before returning their attention back to the battle.

Back with Kirabi, he was currently growling at the man in front of him, who had still not shown any surprise in his opponent's new form. Though, at this point, Kirabi already expected this or just didn't give a damn anymore. All he wanted now was to see this man fall to the ground and never get up again.

Pumping some of Hachibi's chakra into his legs, the tiles in which he was standing on crunched loudly, before he leaped forward, causing the part of the roof his was once standing on to collapse, thus causing the water to drain out into the hole he had absentmindedly made. Tobirama, who was not expecting him to actually have this kind of speed, was taken completely off guard by the powerful right hook that was delivered to his temple. The force that was behind this attack had even sent him skipping along the rapidly depleting water.

When he finally skidded to a stop, his ankle was then ensnared by a claw made of chakra with Kirabi standing a good distance away with his arm and hand outstretched, as though it was his own hand that was grabbing onto his ankle. With a grunt and a fierce tug, Tobirama was lunged back towards Kirabi whose fist was reared back with more of the muddy green chakra bubbling around his right arm. Soon, two of the tail's that were previously swaying behind him, sunk back into the cloak of chakra before resurfacing around his arm, forming what appeared to be a pair of horns.

When the man came within striking distance, Kirabi reared his fist back and rushed forward towards the incoming Hokage. Just when the two were about to collide in mid air, he swung his chakra incased arm towards Tobirama's upper chest.

"_Rariatto_!" Yelled out Kirabi as his attack connected to his opponent's chest.

Upon the assaults connection, with a tremendous amount of force, he swung his arm down sending the Nidaime crashing to the ground with a large dust cloud following his landing. When Kirabi touched down onto the ground and the dust cleared, Tobirama was missing a huge portion of his chest while sporting several other injuries. Despite that, the annoying ash had appeared once more and began repairing the wounds that had been inflicted onto him. Snarling, Kirabi reared his arm back once more before swinging, causing the chakra surrounding him to react and thus, launch itself towards the downed Tobirama, who's body was still being repaired.

When the chakra made claw finally reached him, the said claw grabbed onto Tobirama's head, while applying pressure causing a sound of multiple bones breaking all at once. Once Kirabi was sure he had a good hold him, he jerked his arm upwards, causing the extended arm of chakra to do so as well with Tobirama's head being held. When he felt that he had risen the man high enough into the air, he brought his arm downward until his palm had connected with the ground. Without pause, the chakra arm registered his movements and thus, came rocketing downwards before slamming the blue armored man into the roof.

Still not letting go of the man, he reared his arm back, dragging Tobirama through the roof a bit until his feet were barely hovering above the ground as he came rocketing towards Kirabi. As his opponent came closer, Kirabi cocked his other arm back, just as Tobirama was getting closer. Just before the man was within twenty feet of him, he released his grip on the man's skull while launching left arm towards the man, making another chakra made claw to lunge towards him.

He smirked when the attack had connected dead on with the man's chest. However his smirk turned into a full blown grin as his opponent was plowed right through the roof, creating a long trench that seemed to go on until it connected with the barrier. Staring at the destruction he had caused, he watched as the extended chakra arm began to disperse until only the chakra flowing around his arm was visible once more. He also took noticed that, due to his actions, that both his swords were lying on the ground on each side of the trench. Kirabi smirked at this and made a note to pick them up once he was sure that his opponent was finished.

Sadly that wasn't going to be for a while, since a few moments later, the outline of the undead Hokage rose to his feet, his body littered with multiple gaping wounds yet still standing, while staring intently at him. The said man flashed through a long series of seals before finally landing on the tori seal.

"_Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu_!"

Steadily, water began to slowly appear out of thin air and form that of a dragon which was currently hovering above Tobirama as he still held the same seal as before. Once the dragon was formed, it faced the direction of its target and opened its massive maw in a silent roar before it came rocketing towards Kirabi. Now, unlike normal shinobi who had performed this jutsu, their dragons were pretty big but not big enough to actually impress him. The one that Nidaime had created however was massive; hell he was surprised it even fit inside the barrier that the four ninja's surrounding the roof had created.

So, it was with a bead of sweat rolling down the side of his head, that he reared both his arms back and launched his chakra extending arms towards the quickly approaching dragon. When the attack struck its target, it did little to affect the beast as it still came closer and closer towards him. Now Kirabi realized that, in this scenario, he was utterly screwed. Sure, he knew how to draw out his ultimate stage, but even if he did he knew that in doing so would more than likely do more harm than good. Point in case he would easily be able to destroy his opponent and his dragon, but also blow up half of the village in the process and that wasn't an option. So, with this in mind, he brought both his arms up to his chest and braced himself of the impact that was about to commence.

**With the Raikage**

If there was one thing Hitoyama hated more than anything, was the feeling of helplessness. He always hated it; even back when he was younger and trying to protect his brother from ridicule from the villager's back from his homeland in Iwa. As such, he hated that feeling in the current situation he was in. At first it wasn't as bad, since he was still holding his own against Hashirama before the man decided to pull a stunt that rendered him helpless.

To be precise, he was trapped in the worst situation he could ever imagine; being trapped in a Genjutsu that blinded him.

All around him was nothing but darkness, shoot he couldn't even see what was in front of him a few feet away. What made this predicament even worse was the fact that Hashirama was landing rather brutal attacks on him which he had no way of blocking. Sure, he had managed to avoid being killed since he had reused his _Domu_ technique once more just to keep from being slaughtered by some of the more damaging attack that man had dealt on him. But he knew it wouldn't last long, and the result left him in the condition that he was in now.

Currently, his left arm was hanging limply by his side with multiple puncture wounds with blood flowing down his arm and dripping off his fingertips. His face was covered in bruises along with a small gash on the right side of his head ten inches away from his temple with more blood seeping out. His upper body was also sporting several bruises along with the deep stab wound from Hashirama's kunai from earlier. In short, Hitoyama was in bad shape and if he wasn't treated soon, it would be nasty.

"Coward!" Hollered out the man in anger. "Come out and face me like a man you piece of shit!"

He was given no answer, only silence and darkness. Suddenly, he felt a brief spike of chakra and turned in that direction with his one good arm raised to defend himself.

"_Mokuton: Jubaku no Jutsu_." Was all the man heard before feeling his arm being bound to his chest while more beams came from below him and slithered around his legs to keep him in place.

Growling, the Raikage tugged at his restraints but to no avail as he was far too drained to do anymore. His chakra reserves were drastically low, his vision was getting blurrier than normal due to the blood loss, and he was only stuck with one usable arm.

Once the beams of wood ceased their movements, he watched as the darkness around him begin to fade and his surroundings began to reappear. And not far away from him, was Hashirama, who was now staring at him with those same emotionless eyes as before while gripping a single kunai in his hands. He watched as Hitoyama's blinked rapidly, trying desperately to stay conscious. At this point, all the dark skinned man could see was a red blurry person steadily making his way towards him with something in his hand. When Hashirama was close enough, be raised his weapon towards the Raikage's throat and began to put pressure on it until a trickle of blood began to seep down his neck and onto his chest.

'So this is how I die huh?' Thought Hitoyama with a scowl, 'Like some easy kill.'

However, by some act of Kami himself, someone landed behind the undead Hokage and grasped onto his shoulder's before whispering one thing.

"Forgive me Shodaime-sama."

What happened next, utterly blew his mind. For the first time in the entire fight, Hashirama's eyes showed a clear emotion before dropping his kunai, just as he went to slit Hitoyama's throat. Then, his body jerked forward, as though someone had stabbed him in the back by surprise, before falling limply to the side, as his body began to dissolve into ashes. Also to his relief, the wooden boards that were bound to him, began to corrode and wither before crumbling into ash themselves and dropping off his body. He glanced at the person who had saved him only to find Sarutobi with a strange seal on his abdomen.

The old man smiled back at him before puffing out of existence signifying that he was a clone. At this moment though, he didn't care, all he cared about was that his opponent had finally been defeated and with a loud thump, he collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted from what he had gone through.

"Thank you, Hokage-dono." Muttered the man before falling into blissful unconsciousness.

**With Kirabi**

As the dragon came closer and closer towards him, he started thinking as to how painful this would be. He knew that thinking about it wouldn't help, but he figured that he could at least pray that it wouldn't be that bad. Though, he knew damn well he couldn't delude himself with this type of situation. He knew this was going to hurt like hell and that, even though he has Hachibi's chakra surrounding him, that the damage he would receive would not be minimal.

Kirabi was so focused on this that he didn't noticed that the dragon was just about on him until he found himself in the dragon's opened jaws. He clinched his eyes shut, expecting some tremendous force to send him into a world of pain that he hadn't the privilege to experience. What he didn't expect though, was for the water to simply drench his entire body, nothing else, just soak him from head to toe. Opening his eyes, found that he was still in the same place as before, no big dragon or anything.

"What the hell happened to that big ass dragon a sec a go?" asked the man aloud.

Looking back over at Tobirama, he found that in the spot in which the man was once standing was a man garbed in black. The said person was none other than Sarutobi who was looking down at something in front of him. Seeing as how Tobirama was now gone, he let the demonic chakra around him recede back into the seal before dashing over towards the old man. When he finally reached him he opened his mouth to ask where Nidaime had gone to only to notice a pile of ash with a pale white girl from Oto lying in the middle of it.

"The fuck?" Asked Kirabi with a raised eyebrow before looking up at Sarutobi who had a sad frown on his face. "Yo, monkey, what'd ya do?"

The man didn't speak for a few moments, before sighing and looking back at Kirabi. "I did the only thing that would stop them."

As he said this, the Jinchuuriki finally noticed the seal that was now on his exposed abdomen before concluding as to what had transpired.

"Gotcha monkey."

The man gave him a small smirk before he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Blinking a few times, Kirabi sighed himself as he glanced back down at the corps of the dead Oto kunoichi. Just looking at her made him feel a bit angered at what the snake had done. His thoughts were similar to Hachibi as he too was seething in barely contained anger towards the snake for killing off a mere, in his standards, infant for his own goals.

'**Sometimes I wonder who the real demons are. Me or people like that fucking snake?'**

And for the first time since he first started interacting with his tenant, he couldn't bring himself to bust a rhyme to answer the demon's question. Instead, he did something that was completely out of character for him. He got on his knees and uttered a small prayer for the poor young woman who had been forced to play a part in a man's sick dream for power.

* * *

Hitoyama - Mountain (Raikage's Name)

_Doton: Dokasui no Jutsu - _Earth Release: Earth Spike Technique

_Doton: Koushin Sekichuu -_ Earth Release: Rising Stone Pillar

_Doton: Domu - _Earth Release: Earth Spear

_Doton: Doro Gaeshi _- Earth Release: Mud Overturn

_Fushi Tensei - _Living Corpse Reincarnation

_Kuchiyose no Jutsu - _Summoning Technique

_Moku Bunshin no Justu - _Wood Clone Technique

_Mokuton: Daijurin no Jutsu - _Wood Release: Great Forest Technique

_Mokuton: Jubaku no Jutsu - _Wood Release: Tree Restraints Technique

_Raiton: Doki no Jouten - _Lightning Release: Wrath of Heaven

_Raiton: Rai Nami Taihou - _Lightning Release: Lightning Wave Cannon

_Rariatto - _Lightning Plow Heated Blade

_Suiton: Suishouha - _Water Release: Water Collision Destruction

_Suiton: Suigadan - _Water Release: Water Fang Projectile

_Suiton: Mizurappa - _Water Release: Violent Water Wave

_Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu - _Water Release: Water Dragon Projectile Technique

There you have it, another awesome chapter done by your's truly. Though, I want to you guys need to understand my views on the Raikage. I personally believe that he and Kirabi were from Iwa since they both stand out a bit too much in Kumo. I mean, you would think that someone as big as they are would be from a place where physically strong people are born and raised. Besides, they just strike me as the type to be in such a country. Also, as you all of noticed, I didn't add Sarutobi's fight in this chapter. If you guys don't approve, then please, keep those thoughts to yourself and leave me be.

Naruto: Yeah, you heard the man, get off his ass!

Me: ...I think you stick up for me a bit too much Naruto.

Naruto: (Shrugs) What can I say, you made me bad ass in this story, its the least I can do.

Me: ...Understandable.

Yugito: So, wait, you weren't origonally so se-I mean bad ass?

Naruto: (Starts sweating) Uh, well you see I was um...

Gaara: He used to only shout 'Believe it' and 'I'm going to be Hokage' origonally.

Naruto: Shut it Gaara! Your ruining my image here!

Killer Bee: Aw, don't worry Blonde-O, we all have our days.

Me:An example would be...

Killer Bee: Hm, Oh I remember a time I cought Yugi-chan reading Icha Icha: Snakes of Another Sort Volume II!

Me: (Gaping with noesbleed)

Naruto: (Gaping with nosebleed)

Gaara: (Stotic...with nosebleed)

Yugito: Y-You promised you wouldn't tell anyone about that!!!

Killer Bee: (Starts sweating) Um...sorry, forgot about that.

Me: Um....I'm a little too shocked by this news so just R&R. Now if you would excuse me, I got a date with Tayuya-chan. Good luck Killer Bee. (Disappears from room, no smoke, no whirl of leaves, just disappears)

Naruto: Y-yea, uh, good luck Killer Bee! (Teleports from the room using Hiraishin)

Gaara: Your existants will forever be missed...good bye. (Vanishes in a swirl of sand)

Killer Bee: (Starts sweating more) Traiter's! Don't leave me hangin'!

Yugito: (Cracks knuckles with an evil gleam in her eyes) Oh, I'm going to enjoy this.

Killer Bee: SOMEONE SAVE ME!!!!!!!!


	22. The Sand Dances with the Wind

Yo! Been awhile hasn't it? Well, here it is, the battle everyone has been waiting to see, Naruto vs. Gaara! Hope you enjoy it since it took me quite a while to finish this. But before we begin, who's happy that Pein finally died? Or for that matter, who was shocked as hell when Minato just randomly appeared in Naruto's mind? Anyone, cause my ass was. I mean, I've read it happening in some fanfics but still, to have it actually happen really is a shocker in my eyes. Well, I'd better stop now before I begin to ramble. On with this hell of a long chapter!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_ Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Cracking his knuckles, Naruto extended his claws before entering his fighting stance. "Let's go, Sabaku no Gaara."

The beast known as Gaara grinned before lunging forward with his arm cocked back, ready to strike his newest opponent. "Make me feel alive, Uzumaki Naruto!"

The silver haired young man smirked as he awaited Gaara's attack. He wasn't disappointed as the monstrosity launched his claw towards him, only for Naruto to duck under it while scraping his claws along his arm as it went by. His smirk widened as he rushed towards his opponent with his claws still scraping along his arm as he went forward until he reached the boy's torso and removed his claws from his arm to then swipe them across his chest. The result left Gaara screaming in pain before he was grabbed by the back of the head and slammed into the ground with great force, leaving a large hole in the pavement.

Gaara, whose face was still deep in the ground, snarled as his tail lashed out at Naruto, hoping to catch the boy off guard. He was unfortunate in his efforts as Naruto easily caught the giant tail of sand and began spinning in place, with Gaara's tail still held tightly in his hands. Once the boy began spinning, Gaara's body began to lift off the ground and spin as well before Naruto released his hold on him and threw him through the corner of a nearby building, knocking a chunk of it off as his body connected to it.

As Gaara's body crashed into a nearby wall, he could hear Shukaku screaming loudly for him to kill the silver haired Hanyou for the damage he was receiving. Snarling, Gaara returned to his feet while glaring at Naruto who had yet to move from the spot he had been standing at. Soon though, his snarl turned into a smirk as he raised his clawed hand up while sand began to form along his enormous arms.

"_Suna Shuriken_!" announced the monster before tossing said projectiles.

Naruto's eyes widened briefly as a barrage of sand colored blurs came rocketing at speeds he wasn't expecting. Getting out of his state of shock he leaped into the air, just as the projectiles zipped under him. Had he looked back, he would have seen that the blurs of sand tear through anything in their path, causing huge chunks of the nearby buildings to be broken off.

As Naruto was in mid-air, Gaara had placed each of his claws on the corners of both the buildings he was standing between before leaning back and pushing himself into the air like a slingshot. The results utterly surprised Naruto as, yet again, Gaara managed to show speeds that should be impossible for something so big. And once the former red head was within striking distance, he launched his right arm at the silver haired boy's chest. This time, his attack had connected, causing Naruto to gasp in pain from the force of the strike.

Yet Gaara, whose claw had now wrapped around his upper body, wasn't finished. With a ferocious roar, he twisted himself while still holding onto the boy, and flung the boy down towards the street. However, as Naruto was descending towards the ground, he managed to flip himself around and land in a crouch onto the concrete, leaving a few cracks due to his landing. He winced a bit at the pain but, other than a faint soreness, he was fine. Glancing up, he found a smirking Gaara hanging upside-down on the ledge of a building with his tail swaying behind him.

"Tell me," growled out Gaara as he continued to smirk at Naruto, "The two who retreated. What are they to you?"

Naruto, who was caught off guard by this question, glared at him as he answered. _**"They are people that I hold precious, the people who I would die for."**_

"Your precious people?" replied the boy with a light chuckle. "Don't make me laugh. I, on the other hand, fight for my sake only!" As he finished, he brought his arms up once again with more sand made shuriken appearing along his arms. "Now, let's see whose existence is stronger, Uzumaki Naruto!"

That being said, he tossed another barrage of sand projectiles toward his opponent while leaping off the wall toward his silver haired foe. Naruto, who wasn't as surprised as the first time, easily dodged all the shuriken before glancing up to see that Gaara was within striking distance of him with his claw reared back. Having quite enough of this, Naruto quickly crouched down before springing up towards the incoming Gaara in high speeds while lashing out a fist to the boy's face as the two were about to pass each other in the air. As a result, Gaara was sent spinning through the air before crashing into the pavement kicking up dust and bits of ruble on impact.

As Naruto remained in the air, he twisted his body around towards where Gaara had landed before taking in a decent amount of oxygen into his lungs. Once he felt he had a sufficient amount of air, he focused youki to his mouth before calling out a familiar technique.

"_**Kitsune-bi**__!_"

The moment Gaara had returned to his feet, he had snarled and looked up towards where Naruto once was only to find a huge torrent of ghostly blue fire descending upon him. This however, didn't bother him much, as the Uchiha had done something similar to this when he was fighting him. But, just as he was about to jump through the flames, Shukaku began screaming at him not to. Why the demon was giving him advice in battle, Gaara didn't know. What he did know was that whenever the Biju did give him advice, it was always wise to listen, as it had on those very few occasions proven to be beneficial.

So, with that being said, Gaara quickly lashed his left arm out towards a building and launched himself out of the area just as the flames were about to connect with his body. Up in the air, Naruto cursed as the attack had missed his target as he came near a wall and focused chakra to his feet. Once his feet connected with the wall, they immediately stuck, making Naruto thank Kami above that he had learned this skill.

Glancing down at the ground, he saw that the street was now covered in flames while one specific part of the road had a gaping hole with melting concrete seeping into it. Turning his attention to his opponent he found, to his satisfaction, that Gaara wasn't left unscathed as he had thought. Currently, the upper portion of his right arm was now turned to glass due to the severe heat generated by the blue flames. This made him ponder that, if just being near the flames was enough to do this, what would happen if the blast had actually connected.

'_**I guess that means Kitsune-bi is a lot stronger while I'm in this form,'**_ thought the silver haired boy with a satisfied smirk.

Gaara on the other hand, was seething in anger at what had happened. It wasn't everyday that his sand had been rendered useless against a foe. The fact that two people had been able to bypass his sand and actually hurt him made him quite agitated. Though not as angry as his tenant, who had been screaming and cursing about "damn Hanyou" for the past few minutes.

As Naruto continued to stare at Gaara, he noticed that the glass around his arm beginning to crack before shattering off while instantly being replaced by more sand, completely reforming his arm back to its original form. Scowling, Naruto leaped off the wall, heading straight for the boy while channeling youki to the fingertips on his left hand as he went.

Gaara, whose arm was now fully restored, launched himself towards the boy, aiming to attack him whilst in mid-air. Naruto noticed this and saw that the boy's left arm was cocked back, signifying that he was preparing to attack. He wasn't disappointed as the boy launched his arm out at him, which he did the same with his right arm, causing both fist and claw to connect at the same time, thus blocking both attacks. That however wasn't all Naruto had to offer as a second later, a familiar yellowish green whip materialized from his fingers and in one swift movement, Naruto had lashed it upwards, slashing the wrist of the giant arm clean off.

Gaara screeched in pain as his claw fell to the ground in a heap. As a result, he had crashed to the ground while Naruto landed safely. When he turned around to face the downed boy, however, he was caught completely off guard by the sight of the monster's tail slamming into his chest, causing him to be sent crashing through a wall. Naruto hissed in pain as he felt several sharp objects pierce his back, that and the fact that his chest was practically burning in pain. Once he had his breathing under control and his chest stopped hurting, he got back onto his feet, before glancing around to see where he was. Currently, he was in a weapon's store and some of the contents must have fallen to the floor, since multiple kunai and other weapons were scattered around the area he was just laying at.

Grunting in annoyance, he tried to pull some of the objects out of his back, which proved to be a big hassle since most of them where lodged in the center of his back, until he was successful in prying one of the objects out. What he found it was, he felt his eye twitch in annoyance before tossing the small object aside due to his annoyance.

"_**Makibishi… just fucking perfect," **_muttered the boy darkly while glancing out the hole to see where his opponent was.

When he found that the boy was no longer lying on the ground, he cursed to himself for letting his opponent slip away. Suddenly, the faint sound of approaching footsteps alerted him to someone approaching. Without thinking, Naruto jumped through the hole he had made in the wall before breaking out into a roll until he came to a stop. A moment later, a loud crash was heard inside the building followed by a roar and a cloud of dust. He mentally patted himself on the back for reacting the way he did, otherwise he could have been sent through even more buildings.

His mental pat on the back was stopped when he heard the boy shout out something from inside the building.

"_Fuuton: Renkuudan_!"

A second later, a sphere of wind, which was about the size of his skull, came rocketing towards him and, unlike the previous projectiles, he didn't have the time to dodge it. Thus, the attack connected, followed by a small explosion which caused a large amount of dust, dirt, and rubble to be kicked up in the process. Gaara, who had crashed his way out of the weapon's store, snarled as he rushed towards where Naruto was supposed to be located.

When he reached his destination, the sight was just as he had expected. Naruto was lying in the center of a large crater surrounded by mud and large rocks which had fallen into it after the explosion. Currently, Naruto's body was littered with multiple cuts caused by the cutting force of the wind while also sporting a particularly large wound on his chest, yet it wasn't deep enough to pierce all the way through his body.

Yet Gaara paid no attention to any of this and instead he simply grabbed boy, who was currently coughing up a good portion of blood, and heaved him out of the crater by the his head, before rushing towards the nearest wall and slamming him into it. The force alone had been enough to cause the wall to collapse, but Gaara wasn't done with the silver haired boy yet. With his hold still firm, he dragged Naruto along the building's tiled floors and tossed him through the left wall of the building.

A few seconds later, a loud crash could be heard followed by Naruto's now bruised and bloodied body flying out of the cloud of dust. As he landed onto the street floor, he skidded along the ground for a good few moments before finally coming to a stop while laying on his right side. Groaning, Naruto made an attempt to get back to his feet only to feel something wrap itself around his neck. Glancing down, he found that it was the boy's clawed hand that was currently gripping his throat, though not enough to stall his breathing in the slightest.

"You amuse me, Uzumaki," stated Gaara with a toothy and bloodthirsty grin.

"_**I do my best to entertain," **_replied the boy with sarcasm dripping off his tongue. _**"Even for freaks like you."**_

"Freak huh?" replied the boy, whilst applying some pressure to the boy's throat. "Well unlike you, I was born not a freak, but a monster."

"_**W-what the hell are you talking about?"**_

"When I was born, I had stolen the life of a woman I would have called my mother and having this body possessed by the incarnation of sand. I was created to become the strongest shinobi of Suna; I was born a demon."

"_**So is that the reason you kill for your own enjoyment; because you were born as a supposed demon?"**_

"...No, I kill to insure that my existence is never erased from this world," replied the boy as images of his past began to resurface from the depths of his mind. Images of scorn he received by the villagers, assassination attempts issued by his father, and finally the betrayal of his uncle, Yashamaru, who had ultimately made him what he was today. "As long as mankind exists for me to kill, my existence will never end."

It was at that point, that Naruto felt his blood begin to boil at how easily this boy talked about killing. Sure, as a shinobi you kill for your village and for the sake of your loved ones. Yet, from what Gaara was saying, he only killed just because he could and to prove something that, in his opinion, really didn't matter.

"I fight for my sake only and I live to love no one other than myself," stated the boy as he tightened his grip on Naruto as more and more dark memories flashed into his mind. "That is what makes us different Uzumaki. That is why I'm stronger than you are and that is why, after I kill you, my existence will be ensured!"

Naruto gasped as the oxygen was almost completely cut off, leaving it very difficult to breathe, but at this point, he wasn't all too worried about it. Reason why was because his wounds had finally healed completely leaving no indication that he was injured at all. He stared into Gaara's eyes, just now noticing that only one of his eyes was opened, before smirking.

"_**You really are full of yourself aren't you?"**_

Before the boy could even raise a nonexistent eyebrow, Naruto's youki whip materialized once more and with a flick of his wrist, he had sent it directly to Gaara's face, lashing him on the forehead causing the boy to release him due to the sheer surprise of the attack. Though he missed his previous target, which had been his remaining eye, the whip had done its part and the next thing Gaara knew, he had received a powerful kick to his abdomen, causing him to be sent flying through the air and landing in the middle of the street a couple feet away.

Naruto, after quickly checking himself over to see if there was any other damage that wasn't repaired, he glanced over at a flickering blue flame a few feet away and smirked. Rushing over towards it, he positioned his left hand just a few centimeters away from touching it before the flames completely froze in place. In a few seconds, the flames gradually slithered up his arm, while dissolving the skin and replacing it with the same blue fur-like skin as before. When the process was finally over, his entire left arm was covered while the same ghost blue flames burst in a straight line from his elbow down to his wrist.

"_**Kitsune-bi no Ki," **_he muttered as he felt the blazing heat radiating off the blue furred appendage.

Just then, Gaara came rocketing down the street with a ferocious war-cry. The silver haired boy only smirked before cocking his arm back, while his arm became smothered in blue fire, and launched his own attack, causing his arm to extend down the road and melting the pavement as it went. Upon seeing the familiar attack, Gaara hastily brought both arms up to protect himself from the attack. When the giant claw of fire connected, his arms instantly began to melt while some parts of his body turned to glass under the heat before feeling himself being lifted off the ground and into the air. Soon, the giant flaming appendage retreated back to its owner while shifting back to its normal size. Gaara on the other hand was still in the air and was also in a world of hurt, even if the sand around his body had taken a majority of the damage for him.

That wasn't to say that he was left unscathed as his arms were steaming red while sporting several scorch marks and boils along his forearms and biceps. Currently, both his demonic arms were now melted off, leaving a both appendages completely unprotected. The torso, surprisingly enough, was still intact aside from a few sections of it being replaced with glass.

Once he landed onto the ground, he could feel Shukaku's healing steadily beginning to repair his wounds at an agonizingly slow pace. Soon, he felt his sand beginning to reform itself around his body while the sound of shattering glass filled the air. Taking quick glance at his opponent, he found that the boy's arm was cocked back and ready for yet another strike at him. His eyes widened briefly as the silver haired boy's arm shot out at him once more, but lessened when not only noticed that the arm wasn't covered in flames and that greenish yellow cracks were beginning to spread along the arm as it came closer.

Upon realizing that his opponents jutsu was about to end, Gaara smirked as he dodged the attack and rushed towards the boy as the arm shattered to pieces just as it went by him. Naruto cursed his luck as he felt his body beginning to shift back into his regular form. That in mind he entered his standard Kenjutsu stance, while attempting to ignore the burning sensation along his forearm. Once Gaara came close enough to him, he swept his claws at the boy, only for Naruto to duck under it and in one fluid motion, unsheathed his sword and slashed him along the chest, earning a howl of pain from Gaara. Yet, despite the pain, Gaara still managed to smirk as his tail lashed out at his opponent and struck him in the face, causing Naruto to be sent flying back onto the pavement.

Once both boy's had returned to their feet, Gaara noticed that Naruto's hair was no longer shiny silver anymore, but instead back to its normal bright blonde. Upon realizing this, Gaara stared at his opponent with a questionable gaze before his face broke out into a sinister grin. Groaning in pain, he fell to one knee while sticking the tip of his sword into the ground. Gripping his arm, he felt searing pain shoot through his body due to the aftereffects of his latest jutsu.

'Damn it, I thought could hold my Youkai form longer than that!' thought Naruto bitterly.

"**Well if ya didn't use all that youki against white eyes and gettin' to this place, you wouldn't have wasted so much of it!" b**erated Inuyasha inside his head.

Despite his situation, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle sheepishly at the fellow Hanyou's words. Though he felt his reasons were justified, but still, the guy was right and now he was paying the price for it. Suddenly, Gaara's loud chuckling brought him out of his thoughts causing him to glance up at him.

"It's just like what mother said, you really are just a Hanyou after all!" hollered out the boy as he cross his arms over his chest as more shuriken of sand began to form all the way down his arm. "A pathetic Half-breed like you stands no chance against the likes of a true demon! Now, let us see to what extent your powers are you worthless Hanyou!"

"_Suna Shuriken_!"

Eyes widening, Naruto quickly removed his blade from the ground, just as the multiple speeding projectiles came rushing towards him. With great precision, Naruto slashed at some of the objects that were aimed at him, causing each to burst into a small cloud of sand as the sword deflected them. Sadly, he was unable to deflect them all, as a single shuriken struck him dead in the shoulder followed by another to his chest which, due to the amount of force that the weapon's had, sent him crashing into a house at the corner of the street. Groaning, Naruto returned to his feet, only to be greeted with the sight of more sand Shuriken heading in his direction. Again, he deflected the incoming projectiles only this time, not one had gotten through to him. His accomplishment was short lived since the moment the last shuriken was deflected, Gaara's giant claw tore through his chest, leaving three deep slashes along his upper chest as blood shot out of the wounds.

Gaara couldn't be happier at the sight of the boy's blood, yet he didn't realize that in doing this, he had ceased his movements which had left him completely off guard. Growling in pain, Naruto decided that enough was enough and that it was time for him to start fighting for real. In a flash of bright yellow light, the once plain katana transformed into its giant fanged glory. Mesmerized and confused, Gaara didn't have time to school his features in time to avoid the giant blade as the flat end of the weapon slammed into his ribcage, causing him to gasp in sudden pain before feeling a powerful left hook connect to his jaw, jerking his head in the opposite direction. Naruto, whose blade was still pressed up against the beast's ribs, pulled the giant weapon away before whirling in place and sending a diagonal swipe at the boy.

He cursed when Gaara had recovered enough to see his actions and jump back to avoid it. On the positive note, a long and deep slash mark appeared along the beast's torso with a small trickle of blood seeping through the wound. Apparently, Gaara didn't notice or he just was too blood-drunk to care as he didn't even register the wound, but instead rushed towards him with his arm cocked back. Narrowing his eyes, Naruto rushed forward with his blade positioned behind him and dragging along the ground as he ran, leaving a long slash mark in his wake. Just when the two were about to reach each other, both launched their attacks, only for Gaara's arm to be sliced all the way down the middle. In one fluid motion, Naruto sliced off the giant sand created appendage and shot at kick out to his opponent's chest, sending him skidding along the ground, but not making him go airborne.

This didn't concern him too much since he had him just where he wanted him. Gaara snarled as his sand began to reform his severed arm. However, just when his arm had reformed, a small cracking sound from below made him glance down only to have a fist slam into this face, with enough force to send him into the air.

"_U-_" shouted the clone.

With a smirk, Naruto rushed forward while with his hands forming a familiar cross shaped seal. Four puffs of smoke later, four identical clones appeared in a diamond formation around him. Two of which leap towards the nearby buildings and quickly ran along the walls until they neared the roves and leaped off, both heading for Gaara with both swords out and in there no-released state.

"_Zu-Ma-_" shouted the two clones as they sped past Gaara while slashing him with their swords leaving X shaped scar along his chest. Meanwhile, on the ground, his remaining clone had rushed towards the first clone, who was currently in a crouching position, and leapt onto his shoulders before spring boarding off it and speeding towards Gaara, who was just beginning to descend back towards the ground. Once the clone neared its target, it cocked its fist back before slamming it into the boy's abdomen with enough force to push the beast up a bit higher in the air.

"_Ki_!"

Gaara snarled as he was sent higher into the air while glaring at the grinning clone staring back at him, just before it puffed out of existence. However, before he could even recover from any of the attacks, Naruto burst from the cloud of smoke that his clone had created with Tessaiga reared back in a thrusting position.

"_Naruto Rendan_!" shouted the blonde as he thrust his blade towards Gaara's chest, precisely where the X was located. However, as the blade came closer and closer towards its target, Naruto's mind remembered what Kankuro had asked of him, just before he had arrived.

**Flashback**

"Brat," Naruto turned his head to face the boy who still looked very worried about something. "Be careful and please… don't kill my brother alright?"

**End Flashback**

Naruto's eyes suddenly widened for a brief moment as his blade neared its target. In a last minute decision, Naruto reverted his blade back to its katana state, which had greatly reduced the blade's length, and shifted it slightly so that it would go through his stomach, instead of his original target. A second later, the blonde heard Gaara gasp in pain as the boy spit up blood which had splattered into his hair. Soon, he could feel blood oozing down his fingers and dripping off the end of the hilt to his blade.

If one were to be watching this on the ground, you would see what would be seen during the climax of a classic action movie. Two figures frozen in place while in the air, one an angel and the other a demon, with the angels blade sticking out of the other's back smothered in blood. Even the wind refused to blow at this brief moment time, as both boys stared each other eye to eye. Then, just as quickly time returned as Gaara roared in tremendous pain as Naruto quickly pulled his sword out of Gaara's body, before twisting himself mid-air to land a kick on the back of his opponent's head, sending the still wailing boy crashing to the ground. Unfortunately for Naruto, he wasn't able to readjust himself in time to land on the ground safely, thus followed a second crash into the concrete about thirty feet away from where Gaara crashed.

Groaning in pain, Naruto steadily climbed back to his feet before falling onto one knee while panting heavily. Stabbing his blade into the ground to help him stand, he rose back up with great difficulty and glanced over at the crater that Gaara had made. He could still hear Gaara hollering in pain, yet he still couldn't see him due to the cloud of dust still covering his form from view.

'T-this guy, this damn Hanyou, who the hell is he?' thought Gaara while grinding his teeth in anger and pain. 'How can I lose to this…damn HANYOU!'

Naruto watched in exhaustion as the cloud of dust finally dispersed and soon, Gaara's body came back into view. The boy was currently laying on his right left side, with his back facing the blonde. Suddenly, Gaara rose to his feet while growling loudly with his head facing the sky.

"No! I'm not going to lose to this fucking Hanyou!" proclaimed the boy to the heavens as more sand began to surround him. Soon, sand began to tower over all the buildings in the area and continued to grow passed everything. Then, something slammed into the ground, causing a small earthquake causing most of the buildings to topple over due to the shockwave.

Naruto could only stare up in awe as he stood in the shadow of a giant tanuki made of sand looming over him. Just staring up at it made him tremble in fear and to make matters worse, he knew that there was nothing he could do to stop it. He had burnt out just about all his Youki, he knew damn well that he didn't have any Jutsu that could hurt this thing and about the only option left to do was to use Kaze no Kizu. Only problem with doing that was that if he used it, a good portion of the area would be demolished and might even kill some of the other shinobi who might be around here.

He was broken from his thoughts when he felt sand beginning to encase his entire body. He tried to struggle out of its hold, yet in his current state, he could do little to nothing to stop it. Gritting his teeth, he felt the sand beginning to form a cocoon around him while his grip on Tessaiga began to loosen.

'Wait!' thought Naruto as inspiration struck him just as the cocoon began to close around him. 'Kyuubi, can you send me your chakra, hurry!'

Kyuubi, who had been on the edge of her seat during the entire fight, clinched her fists tightly as she spoke. **"Naruto, I can't, the sword prevents me from doing so. Also, I don't know what will happen to you if you used demonic chakra. It might be similar to youki but its not tame, it's uncontrollable and I can't predict the effects or aftereffects it may have on you."**

'Damn it Kyuubi! Now's not the time to be concerned about the consequences!' thought the blonde with a snarl as he released his hold on Tessaiga, leaving it in place still buried into the ground. 'Now, as your vessel, as your jailer, I **order **you to give me your damn chakra before he kills us!'

As Naruto's inner struggle was accruing Gaara, while in his true state, smirked as the Hanyou's body was now completely covered by his sand. He cursed the fact that he was forced to turn into this form to end this, but didn't fret over it too much. He had won and that was all that mattered to him at this point in time, that and he wanted to see the blonde die.

"_Sabaku Sousou_!"

For the second time that day, time slowed down as the sand prepared to crush the poor soul inside the cocoon. In that moment, Naruto stood in darkness with a determined look in his eyes. And in that moment, Kyuubi gave him her answer.

"**As you wish," s**poke the woman softly, **"Naruto-**_**sama.**_" before finishing with a venomous tone.

Time went back to normal in the blink of an eye, and when it did the sand that was surrounding the blonde haired youth exploded backwards as it tried to hold in all the pressure that was building inside it. After several moments, the cocoon finally burst, sending chunks of sand in all directions while unleashing a massive amount of killing intent making Gaara, for the first time in many years, feel an emotion he wished to never experience again.

Fear, pure and utter fear was now gripping his heart as the sheer bloodlust and rage erupted from where Naruto was standing. As he stared down at the tiny figure, all he could see was blood red chakra radiating around his body like a bon fire. Even the ground beneath the boy was cracking under the tremendous pressure that was building around him and yet it wasn't stopping, it only continued to grow and the ground beneath him sunk down to form a crater from him simply standing there.

Naruto, for his part, felt simply amazed. He had never known using Kyuubi's power would make him feel so… indestructible. True he felt about the same when he had first turned into his Youkai from, but this felt completely different. No words could describe how amazed he felt and in that moment he closed his eyes and took a deep yet calm breath of air before letting out a content sigh.

Once his eyes snapped open however, the look of content was gone, replaced with the look of pure seriousness was left. With a dark chuckle raised his middle and index fingers up and pointing them at the giant tanuki that was staring down at him with a curious look in its eyes. Suddenly, crimson flames burst from his fingertips as he smirked darkly at the giant beast in front of him.

"_Kitsune-bi,_" were the blonde's only words which seemed to echo forebodingly throughout the area.

In that one statement, the crimson flame shot out towards the giant beast like a rocket. As it went, the small little flame became larger and larger until it was about half the size of tanuki's body. Gaara's eyes widened at this and tired to dodge the blast. However, due to his immense size, it made it difficult to do and thus, when he had shifted to the right, the torrent of flames had struck him dead in the arm, melting the sand in an instant.

Yet, that wasn't the truly magnificent thing about the attack. What made it magnificent was the fact that, all around the village, everyone had stopped fighting, enemy and ally alike, and stared at not only the giant tanuki standing in the middle of the village, but also the jet of flames shooting up into the sky. Then, just as suddenly as the flames appeared, they withered away, leaving only a screeching tanuki in its wake while gripping its lost arm. Back on the ground, Naruto smirk had turned into a full blown grin as he watched the giant thrashed around wildly, crushing multiple buildings in the process.

Glancing back at his sword, he scuffed a bit before rushing towards the tanuki's foot and leaping onto the air and landed on its knee before continued his advance upwards. After a few moments of running at blistering speeds, he was already on the beast's belly and was steadily nearing its chest until tendrils of sand shot out at him. Naruto didn't even blink as he easily avoided them while slashing them with his claws as he raced by, causing them to melt the moment he struck them. As he neared the chest, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, the giant's paw was heading straight for him. Naruto quickly skidded to a halt before dropping down to all fours while more crimson flames ignited all over his entire body. Once he was in the claw's shadow, he smirked once more as another jet of fire shot towards the center of the claw's hand, melting the sand instantly and forming a large hole in the center of its palm.

When the claw finally connected with its body, Naruto jumped through the hole and quickly started running along the arm while still on all fours. As he neared the beast's shoulder, he noticed that the head of the beast was now facing him with its mouth opened and he could faintly see a large amount chakra building up inside its massive maw. Deciding that getting hit by that wasn't an option, Naruto quickly extended his claws and leaped off the upper arm and down towards the stomach. When he was close enough to it, he lashed his claws out against it, dragging them along the surface as he descended until he neared the legs and removed his claws and spring boarded himself off the body and landed safely onto the ground.

Once he was safely on the ground, he stared back up at the Gaara's gigantic form before smirking once again. He then brought his hand up until it was about eye-level before snapping his fingers. The next second, four long streaks of fire burst from the small slash marks that Naruto had left behind from his descent, causing Gaara to scream in more agony as sand continued to melt off his body. Though, it wasn't nearly as powerful as the first nor did the fire stay alive long enough, it was still painful to him and he was now boiling in rage.

Naruto watched all this with a smirk still on his features before his eyes widened at the feeling of a sudden, but immense pain. Soon, he was coughing up blood as the seal on his abdomen began to shine bright orange while leaking blood as well. Gripping his stomach in agony, he noticed that his vision was starting to get blurry and that every movement he made felt very tiring. Soon, blood was oozing out of his nose and then his ears. Gripping his head, he searched franticly around for his sword and found it still in the spot he had left it, tip still stuck in the ground.

Groaning and hissing in pain, he staggered over towards his sword, the only thing that could possibly aid him at this point. Upon nearing his weapon, he felt his legs beginning to tire and his vision beginning to darken. With sheer willpower, he finally managed to get to his sword and grasped the hilt tightly in his hand. Tessaiga glowed bright yellow for a second before fading back to normal and not long after, Kyuubi's malevolent chakra began to fade back into the seal. Yet, even though this helped slightly, he still felt really weak and the fact that his vision didn't clear up yet made him feel even more worried.

Sadly, he wasn't given the time to recuperate at all during this moment. 'Cause the next thing he knew, a giant shadow was steadily creeping along the ground as Gaara's claw descending down where Naruto was standing. Naruto had noticed this, but was too tired to move fast enough to get out of the way. Thinking quickly, Naruto removed the sheath from beneath the obi and raised it over his head and clinched his eyes shut. The sheath glowed bright yellow just as the claw was about to connect with the ground. Gaara snarled in irritation when he felt some sort of resistance forcing his hand not to land on the ground and it seemed like it wasn't going to be letting up any time soon.

Naruto opened his eyes slowly, as if not wanting to know what happened and let out a sigh of relief only to feel sand slither up his ankles and pull his legs out from under him. As he fell to his knees, he could have sworn that his life flashed before his eyes as memories of everyone he cared for.

'I'm sorry everyone,' thought Naruto bitterly as he felt the sheath's protective barrier beginning to weaken under the strain that Gaara's claw was forcing upon it. 'I couldn't stop him.'

Finally, the sheath's once bright yellowish glow began to fade and the claw above him came down, earning a loud crash as it hit the earth followed by a large cloud of dust and a violent earthquake leveling several more buildings nearby. Gaara, for his part, let out an ear-splitting cackle as he had finally killed the one who had dared to threaten his existence. But that wasn't enough for him, he wanted to see the damn Hanyou's dead corpse with his own eyes, so that he forever prove that his existence was going to remain eternal. Bringing his claw up to his head, he squinted as he stared at his hand but, despite his best efforts, he couldn't find any trace of the blonde. His eyes narrowed when he realized the boy had escaped him once again and howled out in anger before scanning the area for the puny boy.

**Not Far Away**

The familiar rush of wind hitting his skin was what made Naruto cautiously crack an eye open. Clinching both his fists, he found that Tessaiga and its sheath were still held firmly in his grasp. Glancing around, he found that he was indeed still alive but was currently being carried by someone. Looking to his left, he found that indeed someone was carrying him away, and that person was none other than…

"Y-Yugito-chan?" asked the blonde with a curious stare.

The fellow blonde tensed a bit in surprise before turning her attention towards him. "Naruto-kun!"

Once she realized that Naruto was still conscious, she rounded into a nearby alleyway and eased him off her shoulders while taking his sword out of his hand and sheathing it before gently sat him down against the wall. She heard him hiss in pain and raised an eyebrow before pulling him away from the wall and glancing at his back. She saw that multiple makibishi embedded deep into his back and gasped silently before placing the sword down next to him and began removing the tiny sharp objects as gently and painlessly as she could.

"How'd you get these in your back?"

"Long story, just take them out will you?"

Nodding, she continued her task while wincing a bit at the sound of far away buildings being destroyed due to Gaara's rampage in search of the fellow blonde. As she continued with her task she felt it was a good decision to go searching for him after the incident in the stadium yet cursed herself for not arriving sooner. Though she had made those Oto and Suna shinobi pay for delaying her, after looking at the fatigued and bleeding form of her friend and fellow Jinchuuriki she couldn't help but wish that it didn't take so long for her to deal with them.

"What are you doing here anyway Yugito?" asked Naruto while turning his head a bit to glare at her. "You could have been killed just as easily as me back there, and why are we running away?"

Yugito frowned at him before plucking another makibishi out of his back rather painfully, earning a yelp from the boy. "I came here to help your sorry ass and this is the thanks I get? Jackass, don't you get it, this isn't some regular shinobi we're dealing with and unless you got a Summoning contract, I don't think we can do any more to him. Hence why we're running away, until we can find someone who can beat him in that state."

"But I can beat him Yugito-"

He wasn't given the chance to finish his statement as he was quickly whirled around and slapped in the face. He could only stare wide-eyed as the girl glared heated back at him a furious look on her features.

"Look at yourself Naruto! Your healing isn't repairing your body like it's supposed to, you can barely stand, and I can tell your chakra is almost dried up! What can you possibly do that can beat something like that without killing yourself in the process!"

Blinking a few times, rubbed his stinging right cheek while narrowing his eyes at the girl. "Tell me something Yugito. What the hell have me and you been working on during our time training together?"

Now it was Yugito's blink a few times in thought before it finally came to her. "_Kaze no Kizu_."

"Bingo."

His eyes widened in realization as the fellow blonde did prove a point. From what she was told by the boy, the attack itself was able to end a hundred lives in one sweep. Yet, he himself had admitted that he had only used this attack once and even then he didn't know exactly how destructive it could be.

"But, how are you going to pull that off?" asked the girl skeptically. "I doubt that the he would willingly give you the time to prepare for something like that. From what I remember, it took you at least a minute to locate the wind scar before you could use it. Plus, won't that do more harm than good to the village if it's as powerful as you said?"

Despite himself, Naruto only chuckled sheepishly while scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. True he had thought of her last statement during the fight but he had completely forgotten the other facts that came with using the _Kaze no Kizu_. Suddenly, the sound of collapsing buildings nearby snapped him out of his thoughts before he peeked out of the alleyway to see where he was. Currently, the beasts back was facing him, while it made a slow, but steady advance towards the place that was sacred to everyone in the village… the Hokage Monument.

Naruto's eyes widened when he realized where the beast was going and went to get up only to collapse face first into the ground.

"H-he's headed for the Hokage Monument!" shouted the boy in despair. "We really need to stop him now!"

Yugito raised an eyebrow at how Naruto was reacting to this. Sure, every village had at least something to remember their past leaders whether it be something like the monument or even statues. But to be so worried over just a bunch of carved faces in rock was going a little overboard.

"Why are you so worried about it?" asked Yugito, not understanding the importance it held.

The blonde's head whirled around so quickly that she could hear his neck crack a bit. But, that was quickly forgotten when she saw the sheer amount of fear and worry implanted onto the blonde's features. This surprised her greatly as, in her one month of knowing him, she had never once saw any sign of fear on his face.

"Because all civilians and Academy students are evacuated inside just in case an enemy village begins an attack on the village. Almost every villager is inside the Hokage Monument and if Gaara destroys the monument, then just about every villager inside will die!"

Now Yugito understood the reason for his fearful look, as she too now had the same expression on her face as well. In the span a few seconds, images of dead bodies of men, women, and children all buried beneath the rubble left behind from the monster's attack. The vision alone frightened her and she wasn't even allies with this village. She could only imagine just how terrified Naruto felt right now.

"I won't let that happen, not under any circumstances, so I will stop him," replied the boy with a determined look in his eyes. "Even if it means I must die."

After saying his piece, Naruto quickly snatched his sword off the ground and grunted as he wobbled back to his feet. Yugito couldn't help but stare up at him in awe at the sheer willpower the boy had. This boy, who was exhausted, bleeding, and bruised, was still planning on stopping Gaara, who could, literally, crush him like ant, all for the sake of saving people who hated him.

Yugito, despite how pointless it seemed, couldn't help but smile slightly as she too stood up and grasped the boy's shoulder. The said boy turned to glare at her, only for it to vanish when he saw the look in her eyes, the look of determination that he too had in his own.

"Where do you need to go, and I'll get you there as quickly as I can." Stated the girl with slit light purple eyes while her features began to grow feral and violet chakra began to surround her entire body.

Naruto, only gave her the same stare she was giving him, while his smirk reformed on his face as he answered.

"To the top of the Hokage Monument."

**With Sarutobi**

Orochimaru scowled as he stared back at his sensei, who held a firm grasp on his shoulders with his sword piercing through his chest whilst the ape Sarutobi had summoned, who was currently entangled by multiple snakes, was gripping the blade in an attempt to keep it form going deeper into his chest. At first, when his sensei had mentioned a jutsu even he didn't know, he was intrigued until he found that nothing had changed, no explosion, nothing. So, he had decided that it was time to go in for the kill and the moment he did, Sarutobi had gotten his hold on him and it was only then, did he realize what the old man had done.

He had summoned the Shinigami himself, who was currently floating behind him with its hand plunged deep into the spectral form of Sarutobi. And as seconds ticked by, Orochimaru could see and feel his soul being dragged out of his still living body and cursed the elderly Hokage for what he was doing.

"Your ambition," panted Sarutobi as he smirked back at his student despite the blood seeping out of his mouth, "will not affect the village any longer."

Wincing, Orochimaru glanced down as the clawed, seal covered arm continued to pull his soul out of his body, starting with his arms. "My ambition will not end here Sarutobi! The only thing that you will accomplish today is dying before I could force you to watch this village burn to the ground! Even as we speak your pathetic Konoha shinobi are being annihilated down to the women and children!"

Sarutobi watched as his once proud student began to chuckle softly before staring back at him. "Face it sensei, Konoha will crumble on this fateful day."

The elderly Hokage was silent for a few moments, with his heavy panting being the only sound being heard.

After a long tense silence, Sarutobi smirked before stating. "You should know, Orochimaru, not to take the shinobi of this village lightly. Konoha's shinobi are all protecting this village. They will continue to fight as long as there is breath in them!"

**Training Ground 12**

Several Suna and Oto shinobi charged towards the only person standing in the center of the large clearing located in the park. The said individual however, did not move a single inch, even as the enemies steadily drew closer.

Then, without warning, the man's eyes snapped open with Byakuugan activated before quickly spinning in place.

"_Kaiten_!"

The total of seventeen men and women who had charged towards the man were all stopped dead in their tracks as their bodies connected with a massive dome of pure chakra that had just about taken up all the space in the clearing. Each person was then thrown back with tremendous force, some slamming into trees and rocks while a few more were sent straight through them. Once the dome of whirling chakra died down, all that remained was a large crater with the same man standing in the center with a smirk on his features.

"The Hyuuga are the strongest clan of Konoha, you would do well to remember that."

**Shopping District**

"_Baika no Jutsu_!"

The sound of multiple buildings crumbling to the ground was heard followed by the screams of pain of multiple Suna and Oto shinobi who were sent flying as Akimichi Choza towered above them with his trusty bo staff in hand. Not far away, another group of enemy shinobi were standing stiff as boards on the top of a building while Nara Shikaku stood in the front of them, with a bored, but serous, look on his face.

"Troublesome, but this is only the beginning for you guys; _Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu_!"

Each of the four captured by Shikaku's previous technique felt a sudden lack of air and glanced down to see that a lone shadow which resembled that of a hand was slowly slithering around their necks before four loud snaps could heard, followed by four thuds of dead bodies hitting the tiled roof.

"_Shinranshin no Jutsu_!" came the shout of Yamanaka Inoichi

Suddenly, a Suna shinobi's body tensed before turning to face his comrade with a kunai in hand and lunged toward him.

"What the hell do you think your doing!" asked the fellow Suna nin as he held a firm grip on his partner's wrist to keep himself from being stabbed by his said partner's kunai.

"M-my body is acting on its own!"

Suddenly, Shikaku appeared next to him and smirked at the sight of the enemies struggling while Choza stomped his way over to join his friends whilst his jutsu remained activated.

"Just like old times, right guys?" asked Inoichi as he watched the poor soul who's mind he had taken over stab his partner.

"Yup, nothing beats a reunion of the old Ino-Shika-Cho team."

**Forest Nearby**

Shino stood impassively in front of seven downed Suna Chuunin who had tried to escape from the village. Currently, each one was covered in his Kikai insects as their chakra was being eaten away with each passing second. It made no since to him why someone who had just started attacking to just up and retreat once Konoha ninja began fighting back. Did they really expect Konoha to fall that easily?

High above him sat a motionless Chuunin who was staring intently down at the bug user who had taken out the rest of his team. He knew that he made the right choice in keeping up the rear which had enabled him to get away and try to land a sneak attack on the Aburame member. With a twisted smirk, he silently brandished a kunai and was preparing to jump down and end the boy's life when a sudden rustle of leaves made his head snap to the left.

The moment he turned his head, he was staring face to face with a familiar wooden puppet with its fake eyes peering deep into his own.

Below the Chuunin, Shino allowed himself to smirk a bit as the man's scream could be heard echoing throughout the forest before blood could be seen seeping off the leaves and branches above him.

**Eastern Residential Block**

Three Oto shinobi stared at the two kunoichi in a bit of worry. Why you might ask? Simple, the four dogs that had accompanied them looked downright scary once they were serious. Each of the four dogs was snarling and growling at them while baring their already bloody fangs. Inuzuka Tsume and Inuzuka Hana glared back while also baring the larger than average canines towards the group before motioning for the dogs to attack.

In the blink of an eye, each of the four dogs had vanished only to reappear with their teeth sunk into anything that they could. Each Oto nin screamed in pain before hearing two shouts of "_Tsuuga_!" as they were struck by two green and brown drills colliding with two of the three ninja. The only survivor fell to the ground as the dog on his ankle was joined by two other's in mawing him to pieces. His screams would go unheard as the biggest of the four dogs stalked towards him and chomped down on his neck, causing the man to gurgle on his own blood before his body went limp.

**Nearby Lake**

A total of eight Suna Jounin were cursing the fact that there was no visibility in this damn mist. They knew it was made by a jutsu, since there was no way in hell such a think mist could just up and appear out of nowhere. What troubled them was that they couldn't find out where or when there unseen opponent was going to strike. A few moments of tense silence was broken by the sound of a dark chuckle which seemed to be echo from all directions.

"Liver, Lungs, Spine, Clavicle vein, Neck vein, Brain, Kidneys, Heart," listed the foreboding voice from inside the mist. "Now which one should I go after?"

The group of Jounin suddenly heard the sound of screaming followed by liquid splattering along the ground. This alone terrified everyone, but it only got worse as another scream was heard, then another and another until only one Jounin was left alone in the mist.

The said Jounin quivered in fear as he felt someone's gaze upon him. Turning around shakily, all he could see was mist until a brief flicker of light was seen to his left. He wasn't even able to react in time as his body was sliced clean in half by a massive blade that belonged to none other than Momochi Zabuza, who was wearing the standard Konoha Jounin attire while still retaining his bandages around his face.

As the mist began to lift, all along the small area were the dismembered bodies of dead Suna nin with limbs and blood scattered along the road. Zabuza smirked under his bandages as he kicked one of the dismembered heads of a Suna Jounin into the lake.

"The Demon of the Mist is back," stated the man with a chuckle as more Suna and Oto ninja appeared around him. "And ready to spill some blood."

**Western Residential Block**

Ibiki was not happy with the situation that he and the group of Jounin were in. The same could be said for them as well as they were currently trying to stall the giant three headed snake that had burst through the protective walls around the village from heading further into the village. So far, they had kept the serpent at bay, though not without a few casualties while dodging its attacks, but they were steadily becoming fatigued and no matter what jutsu they tried on the beast, nothing seemed to do enough damage to it.

However, that wasn't the only issue that Ibiki and the others had to deal with, as Suna and Oto ninja had poured from outside the village the moment the snake had destroyed the portion of the wall. This resulted in even more casualties on their side as enemies made quick work of some of the more exhausted Jounin, who had been caught off guard whilst they were stalling the giant serpent.

Scowling at the situation, he whirled around just in time to catch the wrist of an approaching Suna shinobi before slamming his fist into his opponent's abdomen. He could hear the man gasp as the air was forced out of his lungs before releasing his hold on the kunai he had prepared. Releasing the man's wrist, he easily snatched the descending kunai by the handle before jabbing the weapon deep into the man's jugular.

He didn't even care to watch the man's frantic look as he realized what had happened. Instead, he turned his attention back onto the giant serpent that was slithering closer into the village, while pushing the man he had just killed onto the ground with little effort.

"Shit," cursed Ibiki as the snake smashed through the buildings as it moved. "We can't handle this."

"_Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu_!"

Maybe it was fate that had heard his statement, or maybe it was just pure and utter luck that did it. Because the next thing he knew, an enormous toad with two swords strapped to its back had suddenly fallen from the sky and landed on top of the giant three headed serpent, crushing it under the toad's massive weight.

"It's been awhile huh Ibiki!?" asked a voice from on top of the toads head. "Geez, is your body the only thing that grew up? I just can't stand to watch you, eh!"

"J-Jiraiya-sama?" questioned Ibiki in surprise.

"You mean _the_ Jiraiya, of the Sannin?" asked one of the Jounin nearby.

"Little Chikadees! Open them small eyes of yours as wide as you can and take a really, really good look!" hollered out the sage while striking a rather… awkward pose. "Blessed be! It's the twilight zone flight of rampage by Jiraiya, the Alien Sage Ninja!"

Had they not been so terrified by the sight of the famous sage and his towering frog, just about every Suna and Oto ninja in the area would have sweat dropped at this display of pure foolishness. Though, that didn't stop the nearby Konoha ninja from doing so, as their views of the great Sannin had been dropped down by a few pegs.

Before Jiraiya could further embarrass himself, or all the Konoha ninja in general, Ibiki had appeared on top of the toads head, bowing next to the white haired man. In an instant, the amused look on Jiraiya's face had turned dead serious as he glanced over towards the center of the village to see the sight of Gaara's transformation tearing through the village as it made its way towards the monument.

"Where's Sarutobi?" asked the man as he continued to watch the monster trek through the village.

"At the stadium," was Ibiki's reply before asking. "What are you going to do about that?"

The man was quiet for the longest time. He really knew what he should be doing but something was telling him not to. He couldn't explain it, mostly it was just a gut feeling telling him that it would be dealt with on its own. With a sigh, he pushed that feeling aside and prepared to order his toad over to combat the monster when he noticed something in the distance.

It was barely visible, but he had caught a small gimps of violet chakra not far behind Gaara. Pulling out his telescope, he found that it was the blonde Kumo ninja who he had seen in the clearing a while ago, carrying a familiar blonde boy on her back as she ran at lightning fast speeds towards the monument while keeping out of Gaara's sight. The toad Sannin smirked a bit before lowering his telescope and turning his attention towards Ibiki.

"It's being taken care of," stated the man. 'After all, he does have the Will of Fire burning in his veins… along with Yondaime's blood.'

**Back with Sarutobi**

"You foolish monster, true strength is not measured by simple Ninjutsu," spoke the Elderly Hokage as he held his grip on his former student. "It's when they are protecting something truly precious, that a Shinobi's true strength arises."

**At the Hokage Monument**

Multiple Konoha shinobi, ranging from mere Genin to that of Elite Jounin could only stare up at the sight of the giant tanuki that was looming over them. Each and every stood ready with weapon's draw, seals formed, and ready to begin the assault, despite how futile it seemed. Among the crowd of numerous ninja stood Sasuke, Sakura, Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru, Metaru, and Kagari, all of which staring wide-eyed up at the giant beast heading their way.

"This is just like the Kyuubi attack twelve years ago," mumbled a nearby Jounin who Sasuke had noted was the proctor from the second exam, Anko her name was. "Only this time we ain't got Yondaime-sama to save us."

"She's right ya know," stated Kiba suddenly, causing all to stare back at him. "We can't stop this thing, and if that's the guy Naruto was facing, he's probably dead right now."

"Don't say that Kiba," murmured Sakura as she tried her best not to imagine her teammate's lifeless body lying dead somewhere.

"Well, I can't picture Naruto beatin' that guy when he's this fucking big. Sorry to be the bringer of bad news but I call it how I see it. And right now, all I see is-"

"Kiba!" shouted, surprisingly, Shikamaru while glaring heatedly at the Inuzuka. "Shut the fuck up right now."

Everyone, with the exception of the Kumo duo, turned to stare at Shikamaru with a surprised expression on their faces. The reason why was because Shikamaru _never_ cursed like that unless he was dead serious about something and those moments were just about non-existent.

"We don't need to hear that kind of stuff while were staring death in the face. If there's one thing I know it's that in Shogi, the game's not over until someone says checkmate. I haven't heard that yet and as such, we can still win. So shut up… and don't ever think for a second that Naruto is dead unless you see it with your own eyes."

There was a long pause as all the rookies shared worried glances towards each other. They were soon broken from their thoughts when the beast's foot slammed into the ground, shaking the earth causing a few of the panicking Chuunin and Genin to stumble to the ground. The said beast grinned down at them before raising its head high into the air and letting out a loud shriek, causing everyone to cover their ears to block out the noise. As the ringing in their ears stopped, they glanced up fearfully at Gaara yet found, that he was no longer looking down at them. Instead, his vision was focused solely on the faces of the Hokage Monument.

Confused, some glanced up to see what had grabbed its attention, yet couldn't see anything. Kagari, who had released her Kyouka seal while waiting for backup to arrive at the stadium, focused further on the top of the Monument yet to only able to see two black dots standing atop of the mountain.

"I can't identify them, but there are defiantly two people up there," spoke the girl in frustration.

"Kotetsu, binoculars!" ordered Anko with her hand outstretched.

After handing her what she had asked, the woman peered into them and glanced up the mountain. What she saw made her raise an eyebrow in curiosity while at the same time, grinding her teeth together in anger.

"What the hell are those brats doing?" growled out the woman as she continued to stare up at the figures above them.

"Who is it Anko-san?" asked the man identified as Kotetsu.

"It's the Uzumaki brat, and he's got some blonde chick with him."

Instantly, all the Genin who had heard this, snapped their heads in her direction before Sasuke rushed over, in other words hobbled over, and snatched the binoculars from the woman.

"What the hell are you doing!" snarled Anko, only to recoil ever so slightly at the glare Sasuke was sending her before peering into the binoculars himself.

And sure enough, the woman was right as Naruto stood atop of the mountain with his shirt completely destroyed, body bleeding in multiple areas whilst holding his sword held in his right hand high above him with his eyes closed. Beside him stood Yugito, still garbed in Naruto's cloak with a blank expression on her face.

"I-it's true," stammered Sasuke in relief before breaking out into a small smile, "the dobe _is_ up there."

Kiba and the others couldn't help but feel a tad bit relieved that their comrade hadn't been killed by the monster known as Gaara. But soon, that relief vanished when Gaara's laughter echoed throughout the area.

"You truly are a great source of entertainment Uzumaki Naruto!" roared the beast as Gaara's real body began to resurface from inside the tanuki's forehead. "But, to ensure my existence remains eternal, I must end yours and for that, I wish to see it with my own eyes. Now, prepare to die Uzumaki Naruto!"

With that said, Gaara raised his left arm, as the giant tanuki began to mimic his actions as though it was his own body. Yet, despite this, Naruto hadn't moved a single inch, his entire body stiff as a board as his eyes remained closed and his sword remained in the air. Just as Gaara went to bring his arm down, Naruto's eyes snapped open and in that moment, the fissure where the two demonic winds collided was made visible to him, which glowed bright yellow as the opposing winds collided with each other.

**Back with Sarutobi**

Orochimaru, after hearing his former sensei's words, scuffed before replying. "What a boring speech Sarutobi."

The elderly man smirked a bit at that. "This is enough, I don't feel like letting you off now. For you, who is obsessed with Jutsu, this will prove to be an appropriate punishment. You shall be stripped of all of your jutsu!"

Orochimaru's widened as the death god's hold on his soul intensified before feeling a fierce tug. With a last desperate cry, Sarutobi gave every ounce of his willpower to pull out the specteral form of Orochimaru's arms as much as he could while Shinigami raised his dagger high into the air, just above the arms.

"Stop this now!" yelled Orochimaru, yet his plea was ignored as the death god's blade came down and in once swift strike, severed the spiritual arms off.

"Seal!"

Blinding white light burst from Sarutobi's chest as the Shinigami's hand retracted from his body. Once the light had finally died down a large seal, similar to that in which was on Naruto's abdomen, was now visible while the elderly man panted heavily. Meanwhile, Orochimaru watched in horror as his pale white hands began to turn dark purple, before he could no longer move his arms as they fell limply to his sides.

"You will no longer be able to use either arm anymore. The reason being is that now they are both sealed within me. As such, you no longer have any jutsu."

"You old man!" raged the pale man, completely losing all calm and aloofness he always carried. "Give me back my arms!"

"You're pathetic Orochimaru, they have both been completely destroyed," replied Sarutobi as the world around him began to fade and as the death god began to devour his soul. "We will meet again in another world… my foolish student."

"Damn you Sarutobi!" cursed Orochimaru as his eyes narrowed as the man's eyes began to close completely, marking the end of the great Professor's life.

"The place the leaves dance, the fires burn," murmured Sarutobi as took his last few breaths of life before shutting his eyes with a small smile on his face.

**Back to Naruto**

'I'm a leaf in the wind,' thought Naruto as a soft breeze swept over the mountain top. 'Watch me soar!'

"Die Uzumaki!" shouted Gaara as he brought his arm down towards where Naruto and Yugito were standing with the giant claw following his actions. Everyone below watched in horror as the tanuki's claw neared its target and some even turned away afraid to see the results. Sasuke however, had his eyes glued to the binoculars and he himself was resisting the urge to turn away from the spectacle.

"_Kaze no Kizu_!" was the shout that was heard even from where all the shinobi present were located as Naruto swung his blade down in towards Gaara at a diagonal angle.

What followed after that cry would forever be remembered throughout the shinobi nations as the most spectacular and fascinating scene ever witnessed as four separate blasts of yellow energy shot out all at once in the direction that the blonde had swung. As the tanuki's claw connected with one of the four blasts, there was no resistance, as the yellow energy easily tore through it as the other three connected with the body, and tearing through it just as easily as the first while missing Gaara's real body by a twenty feet, due to the gap in-between the blasts that widened as they advanced forward. As the four yellow blasts continued to streak high into the sky, even after the attack had connected, the giant beast that that was only a claw away from killing thousands was left with three long and wide slashes that went completely through its body which stretched all the way from its shoulder's to just above the beast's stomach.

"_The fire of the shadow illuminates the village…" _

Naruto smiled a bit out of victory as he began to lose feeling in his legs, but he didn't care. He had done what he had intended, and that was all that mattered to him. So, with his smile still on his face, he allowed his body to fall backwards as his sword reverted back to its original state before landing in a heap on the hard mountain rock below him.

"…_And so a new leaf sprouts."_

_

* * *

_

_Kitsune-bi_ - Fox Fire

_Suna Shuriken_ - Sand Shuriken

_Kitsune-bi no Ki_ - Soul of Fox Fire

_Fuuton: Renkuudan _- Wind Release: Drilling Air Projectile

_Uzumaki Naruto Rendan - _Uzumaki Naruto Combo

_Sabaku Sousou -_ Desert Funeral

_Kaiten_ - Rotation

_Baika no Jutsu_ - Multi-Size Technique

_Kage Mane no Jutsu_ - Shadow Imitation Technique

_Kage Kubi Shibari no Jutsu_ - Shadow Neck Bind Technique

_Shinranshin no Jutsu _- Mind Derangement Technique

_Tsuuga -_ Piercing Fang

_Kuchiyose: Yatai Kuzushi no Jutsu _- Summoning: Food Cart Destroyer Technique

_Kaze no Kizu_ - Wind Scar

Well there you have it my faithful readers. I know its long, and I was half thinking about cutting it in half but said screw it so I can get this damn arc finished. You fellow Author's should know where I'm coming from and I'm pretty sure you can understand how annoying it is to be stuck in one damn arc for so long while having a bunch of other idea's for future chapters. Well, there really isn't much to talk about this time except that updates for this story will be a lot faster now that I'm out of this part of the story.

Naruto: So, what other idea's do you got for this story SF?

Me: Well....I had an idea for two new arcs I'm going to add _sometime _in this story.

Yugito: Care to tell us?

Me: Nope, but I'll give you the name of the first new arcs main bad guy.

Gaara: (Randomly appears behind SF88) You have my attention.

Me: (Jumps due to surprise) Don't do that!

Gaara: (Sweatdrops) My apologies.

Naruto: Hey, SF, get on with it!

Yugito: Yeah, who is this guy!

Me: Ok, ok, calm down geeze, his name is G****.

Yugito: (Lightning Cracks)

Naruto: (Fire Ignites)

Gaara: (Sand Shifts)

Me: Ummm......Just kidding?

Yugito: YOU!

Gaara: Will.

Naruto: DIE!

Me: (Starts running while avoiding Fire, Lightning, and Sand) R&R or I'll go Vlad the Impaler on you and have your body tortured in ways you wouldn't possibly imagin! (Ducks under a lightning bold) Jebus that was fucking close!

Killer Bee: (Bursts through the door in a wheel chair) What the hell is goin' on in this peace!

Me: Killer Bee, save me and I'll give you all the pancakes you can eat!

Killer Bee: DONE FOOL!


	23. The Wind Settles and a Flame Diminishes

Yo! Hope you guys are doing good, because my ass surely is. I'm pleased to note that I'm going to be graduating soon and that I'm not failing any of my classes. Hence forth, I'm graduating and thus, more time for my stories! WOOT. Anyways, this and the next chapter will be getting us out of the Chuunin Exam Arc and into the Tsunade Arc. The only thing I can say about this is more than likely what your thinking yourselves. FINALLY!! Needless to say, I'm excited about writing my future chapters and updates will soon be more often than they have been resently. Also, before I get on with this chapter, thanks everyone who enjoyed the last chapter, I will have to say it was my best and favorite one yet. And now, with all that said and done, lets get on with the chapter!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_ Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Yugito stared in complete and utter fascination as the four blasts of yellow light cut through Gaara's massive body. She would admit that, at first, she doubted that the attack would be as powerful as the fellow blond had always described. Could you really blame her since Naruto himself had said that he had only used it one time in his life? However, now that she had seen it with her own two eyes, she realized that what the boy claimed had been completely true. Out of shock, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge at the thought of being the one hit by such an attack.

As the four beams of yellow light began to fade, Gaara's body remained motionless with his face etched into pure shock at the blonde's display of power. He couldn't believe what had transpired only moments ago and doubted he would even believe it was possible, had he not experienced it himself.

He had lost, that much was certain. His chakra was far too drained for him to repair the damage that had been dealt to him and even if he was to release Shukaku, it would do no good now as the bijuu was completely silent, which was never a good thing. It was in this state of shock, that the sand beneath him began to crack and large chunks of the tanuki's body began to break off as it reverted back to his regular sand.

Yugito, along with everyone below, stared at the beast in awe as its body began to crumble into pieces while steadily beginning to wobble in place, as if losing its balance. She watched as it leaned back, dangerously close to falling on its back, before it leaned forward towards the mountain. Eyes widening, she glanced down below to see that everyone was rushing to safety while a few Jounin and Chuunin ran inside the Monument to warn everyone to brace themselves. She herself was prepared to get out of the way, as the beast's head came closer towards them, when she remembered the current state Naruto was in.

Glancing over towards him, she found that he was still lying on his back and panting heavily. She knew that at this point, Naruto was in no condition to move on his own, and she doubted she could get him to safety quickly enough. So, as the beast's head came closer and closer towards the top of the monument, she rushed towards where Naruto was laying and flung herself on top of him as the beast's massive and opened jaws were about to crash into them. She clenched her eyes tightly, awaiting the impact of the sand and prayed that the two of them would survive. Had her eyes been open, she would have seen Tessaiga's sheath shine faint yellow.

**Bottom of the Mountain**

Anko watched in horror as the giant sand tanuki slammed head first into the monument, causing a few large stones to break off the mountain and come crashing down upon them as the rest of the giant's body dissolved into sand. She wasn't worried about the boulders or the sand though, what she was concerned about was the safety of the two blondes at the top. She glanced around and found that the Uchiha had still yet to move from his spot but he was no longer holding onto the binoculars and was staring wide-eyed up at the mountain top with his entire body shaking.

Anko didn't need to ask to know what his problem was, as it was completely obvious at this point. She let out a sigh as she stepped over towards the boy before turning him to face her and in a swift movement, embraced him in a gentile hug. Though this was out of character for her, she knew that the kid needed this, since losing a teammate while still a Genin was a terrible loss for someone his age.

After all, she could relate the boy to some extent as she too had lost precious friends and comrades in combat from missions during not only war times, but also during the Kyuubi's attack. She however, didn't have much time to grieve over their deaths since, in those days, not much time could be spent on it when your country is in jeopardy of being decimated by an enemy. But this was a child – a child with a bloody past, but a child nonetheless.

Sasuke for his part, felt like someone had just stabbed him in the chest. He couldn't believe it, after all that effort, all that fighting, and doing everything in his power to save everyone, it was all pointless. Naruto had, yet again, been cheated from what he truly deserved. He did his best to regain his composure, tried to pretend that everything was alright but he knew it wasn't.

He had just lost another of his own precious people die in front of him by a monster. And thus, Anko tightened her embrace a bit as she felt his tears fall on her jacket.

Not long after, Sakura re-appeared from inside the monument to report that nobody was injured from the crash only to have her eyes widen at seeing her crush crying in the arms of the purple haired Jounin. It didn't take long for her to realize what had happened before she felt tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Next to return was Shikamaru, followed not long after by Ino and Kiba. The last to return was Metaru and Kagari who were both shocked to know that both blonde's were killed when Gaara had slammed into the mountain. In a fit of anger and grief Kagari had dropped to her knees and began to repeatedly punch the ground, not at all caring that she was forming a small crater as she did so.

Metaru, however, didn't show any reaction to this news. Instead, he took a glance up top where Yugito and Naruto were once standing before turning his attention to the binoculars that lay by Sasuke's feet. After retrieving them, he quickly peered up at the top of the monument before letting a small smirk grace his features.

"You can all stop now," spoke the boy before removing the binoculars away from his eyes which earned him a lot of questioning glances. "Because if Yugito's alive, so is your friend."

Not believing what he was hearing, Kiba walked over before being handed the binoculars and took a look for himself. When he finally got to where he assumed the two were once standing, he found that Yugito was still standing with Naruto hanging on her right shoulder.

"He's right!" cheered the boy as he tossed the binoculars into the air. "That idiot's alive!"

Sakura and Ino both smiled brightly while Shikamaru and Sasuke tried to whip the tears away before anybody else saw them. Though, for Sasuke's part it was a lot more difficult since he had yet to release his hold on Anko's jacket.

"Tell anyone about this and I'll make you pay." whispered Sasuke in Anko's ear as she released her hold on him.

The said woman only grinned cheekily before placing both hands over her mouth and shouting out, "Hey everyone! Little Uchiha here was bawling his eyes out a few minutes ago!"

In a few moments flat, all the sadness that was consuming the group was gone. As everyone had managed to get a good chuckle as the 'noble' Uchiha literally started chasing after the purple haired Jounin while brandishing a kunai as he ran after her. For her part, Anko was laughing heartily at the boy's expense while Sasuke looked infuriated. One would say that the boy looked rather menacing had his face not been beat red in embracement.

**Mountain Top**

Yugito hesitantly cracked an eye open as no pain had yet to come. Opening both eyes, she raised her head up, only to find that her surroundings were covered in sand, yet not even a grain of it had touched them.

"Y-Yugito-chan?" muttered a muffled voice below her.

"Huh?"

Glancing down, she blushed scarlet red when she found that Naruto's face was currently buried deep into her chest. Though the said boy wasn't fairing much better than her since his face was also scarlet in embarrassment, or maybe it was due to lack of air?

"Can you please get off of me?"

Naruto found himself surprised how quickly the fellow blonde had gotten off him. He almost thought she used… never mind, the point is that she had gotten off him and was now staring down at him wide-eyed. After a moment or two of silence, Naruto let out a sigh before trying to heave himself back to his feet only to fall back down and slam his head back against the stone mountain.

After seeing this, and hearing the boy curse rather loudly in pain, Yugito burst out laughing before grabbing onto one of Naruto's now limp arms and heaved him up to his feet. Once that was done, she placed the same arm around her shoulders and hooked her own arm around his waist to keep him steady.

"Thanks." groaned the blonde as his legs wobbled due to his completely and utterly exhausted body and his now throbbing head.

"No problem," replied the girl with a small giggle before glancing around the area. "How did we survive that though?"

"This," answered Naruto before pointing at his sheath, which had just faded back to normal just as Yugito turned to look at it.

"How the hell did… you know what, I don't care anymore," groaned Yugito as she began to rub her temple with her free hand. "You're too weird to figure out, you know that?"

"Hey! I'm not weird, I'm just unique!"

"No, you're weird, face the facts and admit it brat!"

"You face the facts Lady, I'm unique!"

"You're Weird!"

"Unique!"

"Weird!"

"Unique!"

"Weird!!!"

"Unique!!!"

'**WOULD YOU TWO SHUT THE HELL UP!' **Shouted Nibi and Kyuubi together unknowingly at the same time.

Both blonde's shivered as their respected tenants voices seemed to echo throughout their minds. Both glanced at each other sheepishly before Naruto's head perked up a bit. He whirled his head over to his left as the sound of someone groaning in pain rung through his ears. It was then that the sight of Gaara, lying limply on his back, came into view. Upon seeing the red-head, Naruto let out a snarl as he tried move towards the boy, yet as he went to take a step, he just about collapsed to the ground hadn't Yugito been there to keep him from falling.

Nevertheless, Naruto tried again, this time actually succeeding before he began to steadily make his way over towards the boy with Tessaiga still sheathed and gripped tightly in his hand. Yugito tried to keep him from doing so at first, but as the boy stepped further and further away from her she decided that she had best let him do as he wishes, yet still on guard in case Gaara tried to pull one last attack.

Gaara, who had heard boy coming towards him, stared at him with a look of pure terror etched onto his usually emotionless face. He tried to will his sand to crush him, slam into him, anything to do something to protect him from the blonde. Unfortunately, he no longer had the chakra necessary to manipulate his sand, thus leaving him at the mercy of the blonde Hanyou who was slowly stalking towards him.

"S-stay away from me!" screamed out Gaara in fear.

This action actually caused Naruto to stop for a brief moment before continuing his way towards the boy. "Tell me Gaara, how many people have you killed? Twenty, Thirty, or did you even bother to keep count? Also Gaara, how many times did your victims beg for mercy?"

Gaara remained silent not only because of the overwhelming fear, but also because both already knew the answer.

"All of them begged for their lives and yet you spared no one. Yet here you are, shaking and afraid of me just as your victims were of you. Why should I spare you? Why should I let a being who kills only to prove he exists continue to live?"

At this point, Naruto now stood beside the red-head while glaring down at him. What the blonde didn't know, was that during this time, his eyes were constantly shifting colors from his normal blue, shining gold, to raging crimson all in the span of a few seconds. Gaara for his part was now too petrified to answer and even if he could he would have nothing to say.

"But," continued the blonde as his glare softened a bit, "I can't bring myself to kill you."

Now that had brought both Gaara and Yugito's attention as the they both stood wide-eyed at the blonde Hanyou who was now staring up at the sky with a glazed look in his eyes.

"The pain of being truly alone is a feeling that I can't put into words," stated the blonde as memories of his past began to resurface. "I can relate to your feelings, so much that it pains me. But, I have people who are precious to me now, people who I would die to protect."

As he said this, he let a small smile appear on his face as images of Yuma, Hitomi, Tenten, and everyone of his friends flashed before his eyes. His smile turned into a frown as he looked back down at Gaara before leveling him with a menacing glare which caused the boy to flinch slightly.

"And should you ever try to hurt my precious people, I'll stop you, even if it means I must kill you to do so."

Despite the threat made to him, Gaara was still staring wide-eyed, yet it wasn't due to fear, it was confusion as to why he would go so far for them. He knew without a doubt that his opponent was like him, a sacrifice, a Jinchuuriki and knew that he must have experienced the same lifestyle as him. Yet, he didn't hate them like he did. He protected them, even though he would be justified not to. So why, why does he protect them? Why save those who hate you for because of their own fear of your existence?

With curiosity burning away inside his mind, he managed to voice the very question he had been pondering the entire time, even during their battle.

"Why, why can you do this for those people?"

Naruto once again closed his eyes as all the precious memories of the times he's spent with his friends swam through his mind.

"Because, they saved me from that hellish life I used to live. They accepted me for who I was and acknowledged my existence," he let out a brief sigh, as tears began to steadily fall from his cheeks. "For that I had promised to do everything in my power to protect them, as it is the only way I can ever repay them for what they have done."

Gaara stared at the blonde boy who seemed as though he was about to collapse at any second. Of course, even if he had the energy to do anything, he didn't really care all that much anymore. His mind was still processing the blonde's words before shifting his view towards the sky. As he stared into the depths of the light blue sky, his thoughts began to wonder back to something his uncle had told him once, the very day he had killed him.

"_Love is the spirit of devoting yourself to someone important and close to you. It is expressed by caring for and protecting that person."_

"Love," murmured the red-head to himself as he continued to stare up at the sky. "Is that why he is so strong?"

Despite how exhausted he was, Naruto allowed himself to smile at the boy's words before his vision began to darken. He knew this would happen, since he could no longer stand and the fact that most of his youki and chakra had been used up. With one last glance at the red-head, he only muttered one word loud enough for the boy to hear.

"Yes."

And with that, the boy once again felt his body beginning to fall backwards once more, yet he didn't hit the hard rocky mountain like before, instead he had felt the softness of someone's arms gently wrapping around his chest before easing him down in laying position. By the time his lower back touched the ground, he was already blissfully unconscious.

Yugito smiled down at the blonde as she placed his head in her lap. She turned her attention over towards the red-head, who was still looking into the sky with his eyes glazed over. She wanted to say something to him, she wanted to curse him, hell she wanted to kill him for what he had done. Yet, she just couldn't find it in herself to do so. It wasn't as though she didn't have anything to say to him, because she could think of a whole list of things in a matter of seconds, more so because she felt what Naruto had told him had pretty much done the trick.

So, instead she decided to simply stay where she was, with her hand gently brushing through her sleeping friend's hair. After a few more minutes, she felt several people appear behind her and scowled. Just as she twitched her hand near her kunai pouch, she felt someone's hand rest on her shoulder and turned to see a white haired man in a kabuki outfit standing behind her with Ibiki and a few other Jounin's behind him.

"We'll take it from here," spoke the man calmly as he jerked his head in the direction of Gaara's body. Two of the Jounin nodded before stepping over towards the boy, being mindful of the sand around them as they approached. Meanwhile, Yugito begrudgingly released her hold on the blonde to allow Jiraiya to take him to the Hospital.

Jiraiya now had the blonde Hanyou in both his arms while Ibiki had taken to carrying the sword. The two Jounin now had both the red-head's arms around their shoulders before nodding towards the Sannin. With a nod, he turned his attention towards Yugito, who was looking straight at Naruto's sleeping form.

"Tell everyone down below that Naruto's at the Hospital." ordered the man as he turned to face the direction that the Hospital was in before leaping off the monument followed by his three other companions.

Yugito let out a gasp as she ran over towards the edge of the mountaintop only to see three large toads leap into the air with Jiraiya on the leading frog and the two Jounin on the one covering the rear. The blonde stared in awe for only a minute or so before shaking her head while placing this in the "Weird Files" of her brain. And with that, she turned around and made her way down to inform everyone below to what had happened.

**Inside the Barrier**

Orochimaru watched as Sarutobi's lifeless body crumpled to the ground with his sword still piercing through his chest. Any other time, he would have enjoyed such a sight but today, he wasn't. He couldn't because, even in death, the old man continued to smile at him. It was infuriating to him that the man was mocking him even in death.

"What's so funny you shitty old man!" yelled the raven haired Sannin as he glared down at his sensei's dead body.

"S-Sarutobi." croaked out Enma with his grip on the blade still firm. With a growl, he removed the blade from his summoner's chest before tossing it away. 'The least I can do is removing that damn blade. Damn, only you could follow the path of a shinobi to the very end, Sarutobi.'

With his last task completed, Enma disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving a seething Orochimaru and his dead summoner behind. When the said Sannin tried to move his arms, he winced in agony as his limbs felt as though they were being burned from under the skin.

"Orochimaru-sama!" called out one of his subordinates.

"The plan ends here, the barrier is no longer needed." spoke the man while hissing in unfathomable agony that was pulsing through his veins. "We're heading out, now!"

Four shouts of "Hai!" were heard as the dark purple barrier began wither away. The moment the barrier was down, a bulky man with orange hair rushed over towards his master before scooping him up in his arms and rushing out of the area, with the remaining three members followed behind him. Orochimaru however, only continued to seethe in anger and frustration at the damage that was inflicted upon him and cursed Sarutobi for what he had done.

'I'll make you pay for this!' vowed Orochimaru while his subordinates held off some of the Anbu that were trailing after them. 'This village will fall by my hand someday and when it does, I'll take great pleasure in burning to the ground everything that you held dear!'

**At the Stadium**

Kakashi, Gai, and Haku all stood in the center of the large testing arena. The arena was nothing like it was before the violent invasion began. The clearing in which they were standing in was littered with craters, and the corpses of shinobi from all factions. The ground in which they were standing on was covered in mud. Across from the three Konoha shinobi stood Baki and a cloaked Anbu member who each had quickly realized was a traitor.

Gai, who had occasionally glanced over at the giant barrier not far away, noticed that the said barrier had been dropped and that five figures were retreating and doing so rather quickly.

"Kakashi, they're moving out!" announced Gai, which had caught the copy nin's attention. "Should we follow after them?"

"Negative, Gai."

"That's right, if you chase after them with the little information you have of your surroundings up there, you could just be walking straight into a trap." spoke the Anbu while faking his concern.

"I'm already a hundred percent aware of that. Whether it is a trap or not I cannot allow the enemy to get away," replied the man while his features displayed a rare form of pure and utter seriousness. "That is the way of a Konoha shinobi."

"Also, are you here to just observe the end result… Kabuto?" questioned Kakashi with his eyes narrowed at the Anbu beside the Suna Jounin.

The Anbu remained silent for a brief moment before chuckling slightly as he removed his mask to reveal the spectacle wearing young man smirking back at the trio of Konoha shinobi in front of him.

"I guess you found out," stated the silver haired man as he tossed the Anbu mask to the ground while not once taking his gaze off the three shinobi in front of him. "Even if it was inevitable."

"Hey," stated Baki, catching Kabuto's attention. "What are we going to do now?"

"We should get going pretty soon."

"Are you going to run away from me again Kabuto?" asked Kakashi as memories of their first encounter in Sasuke's room arose.

"For now Kakashi… for now. After all, if I use my skills carelessly, the worst thing that can happen is for it to get copied. After all, besides the Uchiha clan, there is no one who has been able to use that eye so perfectly."

Kakashi merely continued to glare as Kabuto formed a seal before both him and Baki disappeared in a burst of smoke. Even when the smoke had dispersed Kakashi continued to glare at the spot the man was previously standing at before letting out a sigh and pulling his headband down over his right eye to cover the Sharingan. After that he turned around to face Gai and Haku.

"Keep an eye out for any traps, we are heading towards Sandaime's location."

The two nodded before leaping up to the roof of the Kage box. What they saw almost made them want to turn away. Laying on the ground, lifeless and smiling, was Sarutobi with blood leaking along the tiles with a strange seal on his stomach. Kakashi and the others also noticed that they were not the only ones who were there, as Asuma, Kurenai, and the other Jounin, Chuunin and Anbu nearby were here. Even the Raikage and his brother were looking down in sorrow for the man who gave his life to stop Orochimaru.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of someone on a nearby rooftop. Clenching his fist in fury, he shifted his vision over his shoulder to glare at the new arrival. Of course, he could have very well been glaring at an ally, but at this point he was far too angered to care. Had it been an enemy, kami be with them as Kakashi would, for once, enjoy every single second they suffered and their death would be slow, _very_ slow.

What he found instead, was a dark cloaked Anbu with a blank hunter mask. The Anbu's attire was soaked with blood, even the mask had specks of blood smeared onto the lower part of their mask. But the thing that actually raised his suspicions was that the figure's mask had no symbol engraved on it, as opposed to the other Hunter nin's mask which had theirs engraved on the forehead. In a normal situation, he would have confronted this person and had them either eliminated should they try to escape, or brought them to Anbu Headquarters for interrogation.

The only things stopping him from doing just that were two things. One: the figure showed no signs of hostility towards them in any way. Two: something about the Anbu was strikingly familiar yet he couldn't understand what exactly it was. So, seeing as how the unknown Anbu wasn't even remotely trying to hide themself, he turned his attention back onto Sarutobi's lifeless body and bowed his head while praying for his safe passage into the next world.

**A Few Buildings Away**

As she watched Kakashi's head turn away from her, the lone Anbu finally collapsed to her knees with her head bowed as tears began to slide down her cheeks. This wasn't supposed to happen, had she had gotten here sooner, things would have been different. Sarutobi wouldn't have died had she managed to get here even a day earlier. But alas, she couldn't and she knew that it wasn't her fault, but it still made her feel guilty that she couldn't have at least saved his life.

"He had done so much," croaked out the woman as more tears threatened to spill from the corners of her eyes behind the mask, "and yet I couldn't do a damn thing to repay him."

The presence of someone landing behind her made the Anbu stiffen a bit but, once she realized whose chakra signature it was, she relaxed yet did not turn to face the person. She waited as the unknown figure's footsteps tread along the tiled roof come closer until they were directly behind her.

"Sarutobi-sama didn't make it did he?" croaked out the man behind her.

"Unfortunately no," murmured the Anbu while clenching her fists tightly.

This action ceased when a slightly wrinkled hand was placed over her fist, causing her to turn and face the man. It was none other than Yuma, who was staring at her sadly while smiling slightly down at her. It was his smiling face that caused the Anbu's pent up sadness to finally burst as she embraced the elderly man in a tight hug while sobbing on his shoulder. Yuma gently wrapped his own arms around her as he began to sooth the woman while one of his hands began to stroke her back.

"It's alright sweetheart," said Yuma soothingly as the woman's wails grew louder. "Let it all out little angel."

* * *

Ok, there you have it and only one chapter to go before the Tsunade Arc begins. Yay! I get to start the Rasengan training soon! Anyway, I have a question for you guys now. Is anyone familiar with Avatar? If so, could someone please give me an accurate description of Zuko's final outift in the series? Its killing me and I want to know what it is! Seriously, someone please tell me as its driving me fucking nuts! Anyways, R&R and since I've grown so popular with this story, I have no need to threaten you all anymore. Now, its now time for my faviorate thing to do at the end of the chapters. The Jinchuuriki Chats!

Yugito: (Throws a chair) Where the hell are those bastards!

Naruto: (Runs into room) What the hells going on!

Yugito: (Punches wall) I can't find that damn SF and NB!

Naruto: (Scratches head) Who?

Gaara: (Randomly appears in room) She is searching for NarutoBrat, one of SF's friends.

Killer Bee: He has friends?

(A brink radomly comes out of nowhere and hits Killer Bee in the face.)

Killer Bee: Mother Fucker!

Yugito: That's my line damn it!

Naruto: Why are you so pissed off at SF and NB anyway?

Yugito: (Freezes for a second before turning to glare at him) Because NB made this and SF requested it! (Holds out a book called "Icha Icha: Cat Tales") *This is a real story!*

Naruto: (Blushes) Ok, now a get it. Your mad because its a perverted book and-

Yugito: Its based on me! (Throws book to far corner of the room) And he overesized my breasts!

Naruto: (Blood shoots out his nose) WHAT THE HELL!!!

Killer Bee: (Chuckles) That aint even the half of it Blonde-O. Her partner in the book was none other than-

(Another brick radomly hits him in the jaw.)

Killer Bee: God damnit man, I wasn't even sayin' shit about you!

Gaara: I fail to understand your dilemma.

Yugito: Its because I like how they are already! I don't need them bigger to catch a man's attention.

Naruto: How did we get into this topic?

Gaara: I do not know myself.

Yugito: (Growls) Hell I can prove I can catch everyone's attention with my size!

Killer Bee: How?

Yugito: (Lifts up shirt and flashs all three of them.)

Naruto: THAT'S A GOOD PLAN! (Passes out with a nose bleed.)

Killer Bee: PANCAKES! (Passes out with a nose bleed.)

Gaara: (Stares wide-eyed) ....

Yugito: (Walks up to Gaara waving her hand in front of his face.) Um....Gaara? (Pokes him on the forehead)

Gaara: STRUDEL!(Falls flat on his back with a nose bleed)

(Me and NB appear in the room.)

Me: (Stares at the scene in front of us.) Um...did we miss something?

Yugito: (Whirls around with a twisted smile) There you are!

Me: (Glances over at NB) Twenty bucks says she kills you first.

Yugito: (Randomly pulls out both our Author's Enchanted Sticks) Your both gonna die now!

Me and NB: FUCK!!!(Runs away with Yugito not far behind us.)

Me: (As we're running.) Don't worry NB I have a plan!

NB: What is it?

Me: This! (Kicks NB in the ankle.)

NB: (Falls to the ground) OOWWW!

Me: (Keeps running) You will be rewarded in heaven!

NB: YOU BASTARD!!!!


	24. The Aftermath

YO!!! Yeah, its been forever, but I'm back baby! As for the stall, I got into a car wreck and was stuck in the Hospital for ten days with no labtop. I won't bore you with the details, I'll just say that I'm fine now (minus the cast). Anyways, this chapter hasn't been beta read yet so please don't comment on grammer and such. But, as a side note, I'm finally out of the Invasion Arc and I'm well on my way to the Tsunade Retreval Arc! Yay for me! Well, best to get on with the chapter so, without any further delays, here is the next chapter to Naruto: The Fox with a Dog's Fang!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_ Jutsu

**"Speaking"** Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'** Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_ Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Haku was not the type person to sit back while someone she cared for was injured. Hence her reason as to why she studied so much in the medical field. At first, it was simply to help Zabuza during their time as missing ninja after running into hunter ninja from Kiri. However, without the proper medical equipment or books that only resided in hidden villages, she could not hone her skills any further beyond minor injuries. That changed when she had become an official medic nin in Konoha as her abilities had soared by leaps and bounds to the point that she could handle a few critical injuries on a person.

Her stay in the village had also done something else for her, something she cherished ever since her first operation on a fatally injured shinobi who's life she had helped save. She learned to care deeply for her patient's well being and would not leave that person's side until she had either run out of chakra, the injury was stabilized, or the patent was dead. The latter, rarely happened since if she couldn't heal them, someone else could. That didn't mean that every patient had lived, but the overall percentage for those who died was severely low in comparison to how Kiri's were.

Yet, one patent had been the major priority on her mind since the day he had arrived. Currently, she was seated beside his bed with her hands gripping his motionless hand gently. The said boy was sleeping peacefully while occasionally turning his head to the side towards the window. Just then there was a knock on the door, causing Haku to quickly release her hold on the boy's hand and whirling her head towards the door.

"Come in." Called Haku.

A moment later, the door opened to reveal Zabuza standing in the doorway dressed in his Jounin outfit.

"Haku." Greeted the man before turning his attention towards the sleeping boy on the bed. "How is he?"

The girl lowered her head sadly as she turned his attention back onto the blonde boy. "He still hasn't woken up yet."

"So, its going on six days now." Clarified the man with a frown.

"Yes."

Zabuza sighed loudly as he looked back at his former tool. The poor girl had spent just about every waking hour that she could with the blonde. The only times she would leave was to eat, relieve herself, and sleep. Though, with the latter, he would have to come by the Hospital late at night to take her home after she had fallen asleep in the chair next to him.

Now Zabuza wasn't all that good with teenagers, that much was clear with the way he often times had to threaten them to get what he wanted from them. But, he did know one thing about them and that was affections. With Haku, he had known of her affection to Naruto since the day the two had arrived back from Wave. He also knew she tried to hide it from him on multiple occasions but he was always able to see through her façade.

Why she tried to hide it from him, he had no idea. She knew that he respected the kid for a multiple of reasons. The kid was strong, stronger than he himself was at his age. He was very generous to them, he was unafraid to the thought of his own death. The list could go on forever, but there was one thing that stuck out more than everything else he could think of.

The kid had changed him, he didn't know how, why, or when he did it but he did. He had also changed Haku as well, something to this day he silently thanked him for. She was no longer the tool that served him and only him. She no longer had to force her smiles to those around her, nor had thought herself useless if she had failed to accomplish a goal. She now strived to get better after each attempt, she had managed to show her true smiles, laughs, and tears without worry of his disapproval. It was for this reason, that he respected the blonde to such a degree that he did, so much so that he had often thought of training the kid to become his own student, but pushed it aside when the thought of what Kakashi would do to him should he try to take the boy away from him.

With another sigh, Zabuza walked over towards Haku's chair until he was standing behind her. Placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn away from the blonde boy on the bed.

"Come on Haku, you need some rest." Stated the man as he stared back at his student.

The girl looked back at the boy, hesitant to leave him alone until she heard Zabuza's voice once more. "I'm pretty sure he'll still be here tomorrow so don't worry. What you need to be doing now is getting some sleep yourself since you haven't been getting much for almost a week."

The young woman nodded her head slowly as she rose out of the chair she had been sitting in for the past few days. Zabuza had released his hold on her shoulder and was currently waiting outside the room with his back facing her.

"I'll be waiting out here." Stated the man calmly. "If you're not out here in five minutes, I'll come back in here and drag you back to your apartment."

With his statement said, she watched as he closed the door softly before turning her attention back onto the blonde boy still sleeping on the bed with no clear emontion on his face. She smiled sadly at him before raising her hand, and brushed her delicate fingers across the boy's cheek.

"Wake up soon, Naruto-kun." Was all she said before heading towards the door, leaving the boy as he smiled slightly in his sleep.

**Room 508**

Tenten was clearly upset as she lay on her bed in the hospital. She had woken up a few hours after the invasion and had been informed of Sarutobi's death. This news had devastated her but that wasn't all she had been informed about. Gai had told her that Naruto had also been checked into the hospital as well and was in a coma with quite a number of injuries. That was five days ago, and she had yet to get a chance to go and see him.

But, the worst news had been when the doctor had informed her of the condition of her left arm. It seemed that what the Kumo nin had said during their match was true, as the doctor had stated that all the nerves in her arm were destroyed. The result had left her in tears while cursing the bitch for doing this to her.

So now she lay there, staring out the window with her arm in a cast while watching as the civilians walked passed the building to perform their daily activities while some others began repairing some of the damaged buildings nearby.

The sound of the door opening had caught her attention, but she didn't turn to face the visitor. Instead she let out a sigh as she awaited Gai's long speech about how her youth would never diminish, even though he knew it wouldn't help. It was either Gai or one of the nurses coming to see if she needed anything. Judging by the fact that the room was still silent, she assumed it was a nurse and just continued to stare out the window.

"I don't need anything right now nurse." Said Tenten soberly. "I just want to be left alone right now."

"Who said I was a nurse?" Questioned a familiar voice that made her eyes widen and her blood boil. "Though, I do think I would look rather sexy in a nurse outfit."

Instantly, Tenten's head whirled around to see none other than Nii Yugito leaning against the doorway with a frown on her face. The mere sight of this woman made her wish she had her sword, just so she could gorge her damn eyes out of her skull.

"What the hell do you want bitch?" Asked the brunette with venom practically dripping off her tong as she spoke. "Shouldn't you be back in Kumo by now?"

"I would, but certain…issues have complicated our schedule. Therefore, I'm going to be staying here for a little while longer until Raikage-sama is healed enough to travel back home. As to why I'm here, well, I just wanted to clarify something with you is all."

Tenten gritted her teeth in anger as the woman made her way over towards her bed. Now was when she really, _really _wished she had a weapon. If nothing else but to stab her twenty times repeatedly in the skull to extract her revenge on the blonde. The said blonde noticed that the girl was exerting an impressive amount of killing intent at her, yet she had felt much worse in her life so it had hardly fazed her. The Jinchuuriki merely grabbed a nearby chair and slid it over until it was positioned beside the bed and sat down, crossing her legs once she was comfortable.

Teal blue stared at chocolate brown for a moment. Neither broke away from the others eyes, while Yugito's were calm Tenten's were raging with bottled up fury. After staring intently at each other for a full three minutes, Tenten turned away, not wanting to look at the Kumo nin's face any longer.

"And what is it you wish to _clarify _with me? As you can plainly see, my arm is fucking _useless_ now because of you! What more needs to be clarified with me?"

Yugito only sighed as she leaned back a bit in her chair. Truthfully, she would admit that she deserved this and the fact that the girl had been mortally wounded by two shinobi from the same village was a justifiable reason for her hatred. She understood that the girl would hold a grudge against her for this, for that she couldn't blame her as she would feel the same way if it had been her who was in her situation. However, she came here for a reason, one that she was committing herself to do.

"Look, I know that you hate me right now. Hell its pretty obvious that you wish to kill me right now if you had the chance. However, I didn't come here to cause trouble; I only came here to say that what happened to you was nothing personal and to offer you my sincerest apologies."

"A little late for that don't you think?" asked Tenten sarcastically.

Yugito's calm attitude suddenly shifted to that of annoyance. "Even so, what happened at the arena can't be taken back. As much as we wish the world worked like that, it doesn't and the only thing that we can even do is try to make amides and move on. That is what I'm here for, not because I want to get bitched out because of what happened, but to at least offer my apologies."

"Your apologies?" asked the girl slowly as she began to clinch her fist tightly. "If that's all you have to give me right now then you're just wasting your time."

"It's the only thing I can do, what more can you ask for?"

"How about crippling you like you did me you cunt! I'm dying to see if you could be so calm about not being able to continue your shinobi career! Me, I have no other source of income beside the money from missions, I have no family to help support myself, and to top it all off my dream is now nonexistent now! My whole purpose of becoming a shinobi was that dream, and you had taken that away from me!"

Yugito stared back at the girl who was currently glaring back at her while tears were on the verge of spilling down her cheeks. The blonde could only sigh again as she quickly whipped out a kunai "As you wish."

With that, Yugito proceeded to stab herself in the arm, all the while wincing in pain. Tenten, on the other hand, was no longer glaring at her. Instead, she sat wide-eyed as the blonde continued to stab herself in the arm, while blood began to soak her clothes and drip down her arm forming a small puddle beneath her. Yet the thing that truly made this a surprising sight, was that the blonde continued to stare back at her, daring her to look away. After stabbing herself ten times in the arm, she finally ceased her actions and tossed the same kunai onto the bed with her, which made the girl jump slightly as it hit the bed.

"You wanted the blood of the one who had caused this too you, there it is. I had stabbed myself in key points of my arm that make it useless, just as you wanted. Yet, between you and I, such injuries do not affect me." Stated the woman calmly as she ripped off the sleeve to her shirt to show her the now bloody limb that was covered in stab wounds.

Tenten could only stare at the appendage in shock before glancing up at the woman. She noted that the girl was currently biting down on her lip to keep herself from crying out in pain and yet, still looked very calm about the situation. Why was she calm? If anything, she had just ruined her own career just as she had ruined hers.

It was when she glanced back down at the woman's arm did she realize why she was so calm. It was slow, but Tenten could still see it very clearly. Each of the stab wounds were now closing up while faint violet chakra surrounded the wounded area like a mist. After a few moments of watching the gashes heal themselves, Yugito finally pulled her arm away from the brunette and over towards the sink where she washed off all the blood on her arm, dried it off, and returned to her side with her arm extended once more.

"As you can see," Stated Yugito as Tenten stared at her arm which was now free of blood and gashes and looking as smooth as before. "nothing can, or will, ever render me crippled. You can spite me, hate me, wish death upon me, but it will never be that easy. I had done what you had asked, and you now see the result. I would hope that seeing this would be enough proof to you that I am apologizing for what I have done. If this is not enough for you, then you are nothing more than a lost cause."

Tenten could only watch in shock as the woman pulled her arm away from her and made her way towards the door. Yet, even as she was exiting the room, she could not find any words to say to the blonde and yet, she had so many questions that she wanted answers to.

Finally, just as the blonde was about to leave, Tenten found her voice and asked the biggest question on her mind. "H-how did you do that?"

Yugito ceased her movements, just as she was about to close the door behind her. She spared the girl a brief glance over her shoulder and smirked before turning away from her. "That, little girl, is the power of human sacrifice. It's a great blessing….and the biggest curse."

Tenten didn't even get a moment to digest what the girl had said before Yugito walked out of the room and closed the door behind her. Yet, even after she had left, the brunet continued to stare at the door as if expecting her to return, only she knew the blonde wouldn't. After several long minutes of silence, she finally tore her eyes away from the door and instead to the bloodied kunai still sitting on her bed and staining the sheets. Hesitantly, she picked up the said weapon, then looked back towards the door, and back at the kunai again.

"Jinchuuriki." Murmured the girl as she began to inspect the kunai newfound curiosity. "Why does that seem so familiar?

**Room 326**

The sound a constant beep was the first thing he heard before groaning loudly. He tried to silence the source of the noise only to realize that it wasn't the alarm clock. Instantly Naruto's eyes snapped up in surprise before shutting them just as quickly as he had opened them. The damn room he was in was pure white, the worst place to wake up if you had the damn window open and enhanced senses.

'Wait a minute.' Thought the blonde before slowly cracking his eyes open. 'White room, stiff as hell bed, beeping noise that never shuts the hell up, the stench of blood and cheep air freshener. Yup, I'm definitely at the hospital.'

Once his eyes were completely opened, he took in his surroundings and found that his was in his own secluded room, a window, and a sink nearby while another door led to the bathroom. However, as he scanned the room, he did find something that made his eyebrows rise in surprise. Well, it wasn't necessarily one thing, it was multiple things, cards, flowers, hell even a few boxes full of treats for him to snack on all crammed onto a small dresser beside his bed.

After staring at the assortment of cards and other things, he finally picked up the closest one to him and opened it.

_Naruto_

_You really are Konoha's most surprising ninja. That stunt you pulled off against that Gaara kid was kick ass! I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for all the times I called you dobe, because right now you proved that you're the top dog among us. I hope you wake up soon so you can teach me that move sometime._

_Your friend,_

_Kiba Inuzuka, Hana Inuzuka, and Tsume Inuzuka._

The blonde boy couldn't help but smile at the letter before turning his attention towards the others. Soon, he picked up the others, read through them, and even gave out a laugh at a few of their jokes that they had put in to try and lessen the seriousness of the letter. It made his heart swell to know that all of his friend's were so worried about him. Hell he even got one from Sasuke. SASUKE! The guy that always had a stick shoved up his ass. The guy that acted like the world owed him money and was almost never stratified with anything. The one who was his rival had sent him a letter that didn't only have some corny joke inside with his name on it and nothing else. He had actually written a sincere and, for once, nice letter to him wishing for his good health.

By the time he had finished reading through all the letters, he was on the verge of tears. A year or two ago, he would have expected nothing from any of his peers. Sure he would have gotten something from Iruka, the Hokage, Yuma, and Teuchi or Ayame. But, other than those five people, nobody would have sent him anything. So for him to actually have more than two or three gifts and cards for him, made this the best morning he's ever had.

However, it was at that point he realized something missing. Searching through the pile of cards and gifts, he couldn't find anything from the person who always left something for him…the Hokage. This confused him greatly as, after all his visits here in the hospital, the old man had always left something for him. Whether it was money, flowers, a card, or even a bowl of Ramen. The old man never once gave him nothing during his stay at the hospital, not even once.

Suddenly, the sound of the door opening made his turn his head in the direction of the door. Standing there was one of the nurses who worked here and the woman was currently staring at him in shock. She even dropped her clipboard that she was holding before running out of the room.

"Oh-kay?" Stated the blonde with a raised eyebrow. "That wasn't weird at all."

Sighing, the blonde looked away from the pile of gifts and turned his gaze out the window. He could see many of the civilians already busy repairing the damaged buildings nearby. Part of him wanted to help them, as he was part of the reason that some of the buildings got leveled in the first place, but he knew that the suborn hospital staff would not let him leave that easily.

Suddenly, he could hear the sounds of multiple footsteps rushing down the hallway outside. He wasn't sure why, but he suddenly got a bad feeling about what was about to occur in the next few minutes. As soon as he got this feeling, the same nurse who had rushed out a few moments ago came rushing back in followed by many other nurses and doctors.

"See, I told you he was awake!" Stated the nurse from before.

"Amazing, after six days of unconsciousness he seems to be just fine!"

"Can I do his physical? You know, to make sure he doesn't have any other injuries?"

"Like hell you will! I'll take care of it as I'm certified for that duty as it is."

"You liar, you just want to cop a feel on him!"

"So do you!"

"T-that's absurd! I'm a professional member of the medical staff and I don't do such acts on patients!"

Naruto sweat dropped at the sight of many of the young nurses and female doctors began to start yelling back and forth at each other to see who would check up on him. The blonde idly wondered if this was how Sasuke felt when they were in the academy. If it was, he could now understand why he avoided the girls in their class like the plague.

'I don't know whether to be flattered or mortified.' Thought the boy to himself as he continued to watch the 'professional' medical staff fight over whom was going to give his physical.

After almost five minutes of constant arguing, the crowd of young nurses and doctors departed as their supervisor arrived on the scene. Naruto made a mental note to request this doctor from now on, simply to avoid this occurrence from happening again. Once the doctor had finished his examination, he had written something down on the clipboard and hung it on the end of his bed before saying his goodbyes and leaving the room.

However, outside the room, Naruto could still hear the man behind the door talking to someone. Focusing more into his senses, he listened in on what the doctor was saying.

"Is he alright?" asked a voice from behind the door. It was female yet he had no idea who the person was.

"Actually, yes he seems to be doing quite well despite the injuries he had prier about a week ago. Though, we noticed that wounds were healing faster than usual it was still surprising that he had exerted so much chakra and yet not suffering any signs of chakra exhaustion or any other after effects of it. Over all, he should be ready for dismissal by tomorrow afternoon."

"If he is in such good condition, why must he stay till then?"

"Standard procedure ma'am, its mostly to make sure that he has no other problems that we might have missed. But, judging from his current state, I would normally say he is free to go now. That, however, is not allowed, no matter who it is."

"…I see."

"Well, if you wish to see him, visiting hours aren't over yet so you may do so if you wish. However, I have other patients to attend to so I must be off. So, have a good day ma'am."

Naruto could hear the man about to walk away until he heard the woman stop him.

"Doctor."

He heard the man's footsteps cease and guessed that he was now facing her with a curious expression on his face.

"You….didn't tell him about the Hokage did you?"

Now the conversation had caught his attention as the boy's eyes immediately widened while focusing more into his hearing to find out what had happened. He heard the man let out a sigh before replying.

"No….I did not inform the boy about Hokage-sama's death. I didn't want him to know after just waking up from his coma and I feared that if I had, he would have had a terrible reaction to it."

It was at those words, Naruto could no longer focus anymore on his senses as his hands were trembling. He tried to calm himself down, he tried to keep his hands still, he tried to fight back the tears that threatened to spill.

But he couldn't.

Not this time.

He could feel the tears threatening to fall down his face as he flopped back on his bed as he gazed at the ceiling. He tried closing his eyes to regain his composer but when he did, all he saw was the old man's smiling face as he looked back at him. Memories of all the times the two had gone to Ichiraku Ramen, the park, or even the Hokage Monument came flashing before his eyes. He couldn't take it anymore. He needed to leave, get some air, get something, anything. It didn't matter what he did or where he went at this point, all he needed to do was leave and to do so _now_.

So, with that thought in mind, the blonde quickly got out of bed, while still garbed in a pair of grey pants and black shirt, and rushed over towards the window before opening it and stepping out onto the ledge. When he heard the sound of the door opening, he didn't bother to look back, he just jumped off towards a nearby rooftop and continued to rush off into the distance as far away from the hospital as he could.

Had he looked back, he would have seen a red-haired woman standing in the doorway with her face downcast while behind her was a familiar pink haired girl who was holding a dark pink rose in her hand.

**Yamanaka Flower Shop**

Ino, for lack of better term, was bored out of her mind. Reason why is because she was forced to stay at the shop for her father, who was currently out on a mission. She wouldn't have minded working at the shop had business not been so dead after the past two days. After Sandaime's funeral had passed the customer's had been too busy repairing the village to even think about buying anything. Of course, there were a few stray civilians who had came in every once in a while to buy some flowers for those who had either died in the invasion or for those who were in the Hospital.

Every so often, during her shift at the store, her thoughts would wonder back towards two particular occupants that were currently residing there. One was, of course, Uchiha Sasuke who was steadily returning back to health with each passing day. The other, who was rapidly becoming popular to all inside the village, was none other than Uzumaki Naruto. The last time she had heard, the boy was still in a coma and it was still undetermined if he would be waking up anytime soon.

Ino let out a sigh as she remembered visiting the blonde with Sakura just a day after he was administered into the facility. What she witnessed, was something that had completely and utterly shocked her. Sitting by his bed, was the same Chuunin instructor that she had seen during the preliminary rounds of the exams. Not only that, she had seen Kakashi, Gai, the blonde Kumo kunoichi, hell she even saw Jiraiya during that one visit. Each of them had the look of pure and utter worry etched on their faces, though for Kakashi it was difficult to tell. It surprised her that so many strong individuals were so worried over the boy's condition and part of her was jealous of how respected the boy was by such people.

Sure, she knew that she shouldn't be jealous of the boy for that, after all he did prove his strength in a degree that none could have ever imagined. But, part of her felt like it just didn't fit with the blonde. Hell, about five months ago the boy couldn't even perform a perfect Bunshin and was looked down upon by just about everyone in the village. Why was it that all of a sudden, he is considered one of the strongest people she had ever met and was respected by so many powerful people.

Maybe it was just pure and utter dumb luck, or maybe the boy had the talent to be strong yet had no way of bringing it out until now. Regardless of either choice, she had to accept that the boy from the academy days and the boy from today were two completely different people.

Suddenly, the bell hanging in the doorway chimed, alerting the girl that a customer had arrived. Quickly regaining her composer, she turned to greet the person who entered only to stop just as she was about to speak. The person who entered, was the same black garbed Kumo shinobi who had stabbed Naruto's girlfriend a month ago. Currently, the boy was wondering around the store, glancing down at some of the many roses and flowers scattered throughout the store. Not once did he look up, he would often times stop to examine a row before moving on.

Finally, after searching for a few more minutes, the boy finally ceased his movements and crouched down and gazed at a row of purple Hyacinth. Raising an eyebrow, the blonde stepped out from behind the counter and walked over towards the boy, who was obviously deep in thought. Once she had reached towards him, she too crouched down and plucked a single flower out of the flowerbed, causing Metaru to flinch a bit before shifting his gaze towards her.

"Good choice sir, Hyacinth are very beautiful during the spring, especially purple ones."

Metaru merely eyed her a bit before relaxing and returned his gaze back to the flowerbed. "Thank you, I've never seen these before and I just thought they were...um."

"Beautiful?" finished the blonde with a small smile.

"…Y-yes." Replied the boy with a blush on his cheeks as he plucked one of them out of the flowerbed to examine it closer.

'Oh this is priceless!' Thought the blonde as she continued to smile. 'Figures the cold Kumo ninja is getting embarrassed about being in a 'girly place'."

As he continued to examine the flower, Ino took this moment to take a better look at the strange genin beside her. She saw that he was indeed very fit, as his chest muscles were clearly outlined through his black shirt along with his developed biceps and triceps on his left arm. His face was devoid of any freckles or pimples and yet had a single, almost unnoticeable, scar that went from the side of his chin to his cheek. Ino had quickly averted her eyes so as not to be caught staring.

"Um, miss?" asked the boy, bringing Ino out of her thoughts.

'Crap!' "Y-yes?"

"Can you tell me what the meaning of this flower is?"

This had completely caught the blonde off guard as not many people knew, or cared, that most flowers had meanings to them, much less a shinobi from Kumo would know. Though, part of her was thankful that the boy didn't notice her staring at him a few moments ago. The last thing she needed was the embarrassment of answering a foreign shinobi as to why she was staring at him.

"Oh that's easy, it stands for forgiveness."

The boy merely gave the girl a small smile as he glanced back at the flower in his hand. Truthfully, he doubted that flowers were going to change much after what had happened. However, part of him held a small sliver of hope that it would at least show that he was trying to make up for his mistakes. It might not be much, but it was a start and it was something so the least he could do was try.

"How much would it be for a banquet of these?"

"Um, about 1500.00 Ryo I believe." Replied the blonde. "If you don't mind me asking, who are they for?"

"They are for the kunoichi who I was fighting against in the tournament."

'Well that wasn't obvious.' Thought the girl dryly.

Though, she had to admit, he was at least trying to make amends for what he had done. From what she could assume, other foreign shinobi would have shown no remorse and could have cared less who they had hurt. Prime example would have been the Suna kunoichi who had all but paralyzed her opponent and didn't even give the girl a second glance.

"How long will it take to prepare?"

"Oh, don't worry; it will only take a few minutes."

"Thank you."

With that said, the boy had heaved himself back to his feet before extending his left hand down for her to take. The said girl glanced at the boy's hand, which was still hidden behind the thick black veil along with a single black glove before taking it as he helped her to her feet. However, during that brief moment her hand made contact with his own she felt something off about it. It was difficult to explain, but it was still noticeable. Before she could process this thought any further, the bell in the doorway chimed again and a panting pink haired girl was now leaning against the door way as she tried to catch her breath.

"Sakura what's wrong?" asked Ino, completely dismissing her previous thoughts to focus on the situation at hand.

"It's Naruto." Panted out the girl as she finally was able to regain her breath. "We can't find him."

Ino, along with Metaru, stood in silence for a few moments as her words sunk into their minds. It was only a few seconds afterwards, did she react to what her friend had said, which had been the widening of her eyes and reply with the first thing that came to mind.

"WHAT!?"

**Residential District **

Ino, wasn't the only one who had received the news about Naruto's disappearance. Though, she had been informed that he wasn't kidnapped, apparently he had left by his own will. Ever since she had heard the news of his willing disappearance, she had gone on a village wide search for him, aiming to find him to make sure he wasn't hurt. After all, it wasn't everyday that someone just wakes up after a deadly battle, go into a coma, wake up, and vanish without a trace.

Currently though, she couldn't find hide, nor hair of the blonde anywhere. She had checked all of his usual hangouts, or at least the ones that she knew of, only to come up with no clues. It was very clear that, wherever the blonde was, he didn't want to be found. After searching for just about an hour, she was steadily becoming worried that he could have left the village walls to avoid everyone, for what reason she did not know.

However, there was one last place that she had yet to check or, to be more specific, a person who just might know where the blonde could be. The only issue was finding him and that was rather difficult since he could be just about anywhere in the village for all she knew.

"Hey, pretty lady!" shouted someone from across the street from where she was currently resting.

Glancing over, she found a small girl with violet eyes smiling at her while her short arm waved over at her. After noticing the girl's state of dress, she could tell that the girl was homeless, yet that was clue enough for her. Rushing across the street, Haku kneeled down to the girl before asking. "Yes."

"Do you have any sweets? Yuma-jii-san said that I couldn't have any because I get too hyper. But I've been a good girl for a long time and I want some." Asked the girl while still smiling cheekily at the ice-maiden.

At the mention of the man's name, Haku's ears perked up a bit before she gave the girl a sweet smile and replying. "I'm sorry, but I don't have anything with me at the moment. But, if you can tell me where Yuma-san is, I can buy you some afterwards."

"Deal!" Shouted the girl excitedly before grabbing onto the girl's hand and practically dragged her down the alleyway. After rushing down the alleyway and turning a few corners, Haku came to see the sight of a wide open alleyway while a mass amount of the homeless were lounging around near the walls. Multiple old and torn furniture could be seen scattered throughout the area while dirty clothes, posters, newspapers, broken sake bottles, and a few trashcans were lying everywhere else. She could see some of the more elderly people coughing up a storm while others were using their own clothing to bandage wounds.

"He's over there pretty lady." Stated the girl as she pointed down near the far end of the alleyway.

The said old man was currently chugging down a bottle of sake as he sat against the wall. After seeing the man, she almost immediately recognized him as the man Naruto had introduced them her and Zabuza to the day they had first arrived. However, this time around he didn't look as cheerful as he was before. From the looks of it, he had bags under his eyes, his hair was a mess, and was staring intently at the ground with a frown on his face. Clearly the man was in no mood for dealing with anything however she needed his help, as he was the only person that came to mind that might know where the blonde boy could be.

So she made her way over towards him, while trying not to step on anyone who might be resting on the ground as she walked. After nearly tripping on a few people she was finally standing next to the elderly man, who had yet to take his eyes off the ground.

"E-excuse me Yuma-san." Spoke the raven haired girl softly to gain the man's attention.

"What do you want?" Asked the man while not once moving his gaze.

"I was hoping you could help me find Naruto. Do you have any idea where he might be?"

The man's gaze quickly turned to face her while his face twisted into a scowl. His scowl, was almost as quickly erased once he saw her and quickly turned away from her. "Go ask someone else."

"Please, I just want to make sure he's alright."

Yuma, who could feel the buzz of the sake kicking in, glanced back at the girl for a moment. He had seen this girl only once, and that was all. In all fairness he felt that he had no obligation or compelled to tell her anything. Yet, despite that, the girl did appear to be honest about her request and seemed very concerned about the blonde. In all his years of knowing the boy, not many went as far to find him, with the only exceptions being Sarutobi and a few of the Anbu who protected him. Even after some of the blonde's worst pranks it never resulted in people actually seeking him out to find the blonde, more than likely because they never met him nor did they know that the two knew each other. Still, to think that such a beautiful young woman would come to one of the worst places in the village to find only one person showed how little she cared about her image and more so her friend.

It was then, that Yuma let out a sigh as he took another sip of his sake before turning his attention back on the raven haired girl.

"I can only think of two places that the brat could be hiding."

He didn't miss the gleam that had returned to her eyes at hearing that. Nor did he miss the smile that spread along her face once as she stared back at him.

'Naruto, you really are something special.' Thought the elderly man as he told the girl what he knew, and when she was gone, he prayed that the boy was their, heaven knows the boy needed this for a long time.

**Hokage Memorial**

Far into the forest behind the Hokage Monument, was something that a majority of the people hardly ever visit. It made no since why they never did, afterall, the greatest hero's of many generations are remembered in this somewhat holy area. It was simple enough though, a single statue of a red flame that burned brightly in the center of the clearing with a slab of concrete stationed below it. Yet, our focus is not on the stone itself, more so the blonde standing in front of it.

From the moment he had left the Hospital, he had traveled here to pay the last of his respects to the man who he had considered a grandfather. Though, he didn't have the traditional white flower for this occasion, he pushed tradition aside for this case. Still, even as he stood in front of the stone, he could not believe that the man was dead.

It wasn't right in his eyes. The man showed every aspect of the 'Will of Fire' that he always preached about in his lectures when he came to the academy for a few of his surprise visits. He was kind, he was wise, he was strong, and he was the prime example of everything the village stood for. Hence it was one of the reason's he dreamed of becoming Hokage someday. He wanted to be just like the old man was, not just for the respect that came with being the best but to be the hope, the inspiration, the motivation, and the flame that kept burning inside the hearts and minds of those who served under him. That was how Sarutobi had lead the village, and since the day he realized what the Hokage truly meant, he dreamed of being what Sarutobi was.

But now he was gone, the flame that had kept giving out light to fend against the darkness was now extinguished. Nothing he could do would change that, despite how much he wished he could have changed it. However, even though he had accepted that Sarutobi was now gone, it didn't mean that he was still pained by it.

The blonde let out a sigh while doing his best to keep the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes to fall. He told himself years ago that he would stop crying, it never helped him in the past and it certainly wouldn't help him anytime soon either. To him, crying was useless, and if he ever did cry he would berate himself for it. Mind you, he wasn't trying to make himself emotionless; he merely wanted to keep others from seeing such a side of him. The side that was in pain, the side he refused to show to others, the side that he felt no-one needed to see coming from him.

Suddenly, his ears heard the distinct sound of footsteps rapidly approaching towards his location. Taking a few whiffs into the air, he allowed himself to smile a bit as the approaching person finally touched down a few feet behind him.

"Hi Haku-chan." Greeted the blonde while not removing his gaze off the stone in front of him.

Haku, who was at first happy to note that she had finally found the blonde, couldn't help but notice tone the boy had used for her greeting. It lacked the glee that he usually had in his it whenever they greeted each other. To her, he sounded…older, like an old man who had lived to see his children die before he did. This alone, startled her slightly as she had hardly heard the boy use such a tone around others, let alone herself.

"H-hello Naruto-kun." Replied the girl as she made her way over towards the boy until she was standing beside him. "Are you ok."

"Ok?" crocked the blonde while chuckling somewhat. He could feel his emotions slipping and was doing his best to keep them in check, and was failing. "What do you think Haku-chan?"

The girl didn't reply, she really had no reason to as this was part of the healing process. To her, it didn't seem that it was healing much of anything, yet she still remained silent in hopes that he would let out his bottled up sorrow.

"I saw him as the grandfather I never had Haku-chan." Continued the blonde as his sadness began to truly show. "Sure, Yuma came along later, but Oji-san was there from the very beginning. He helped me, he was nice to me, he loved me just as he did everyone else in this village. He gave me a home, protected me from enemies I didn't even know I had. And what happens? He dies, not even giving me the chance to truly thank him for all that he had done for me throughout my hellish life. I never thanked him for just being there when I needed him, the food he paid for me when I was starved, the clothes he gave me when all had were rags, the eviction of that bastard who used to own the complex and gave me his property. Out of everything he did for me, the last moment I can remember with him is getting into an argument over my parents."

By now, Haku could clearly see the tears spilling down his cheeks as he spoke each word. She was no stranger to such thoughts, as the last thing she remembered of her father was him holding up a knife to kill her before she had slaughtered him along with the crowd of other villagers that had come along with him. Though, the two situations were completely different in general, the main purpose was the same thing. Remembering your last moments with a person, whether they were family or close friends, being a bitter or fearful one always left a gaping hole in one's heart and conscious.

And it was clear to her, that his guilt was steadily killing him on the inside. She knew this because of her own experience with it. The key difference was that she had no one to comfort her during her time of need. She didn't have a shoulder to cry on, merely the pure white snow that she had spent hours crying on top of as the realization of what she had done finally sunk in. Just remembering that moment again made her heart clinch a bit before steeling herself. She didn't want Naruto to suffer like she did, she wouldn't allow it, _couldn't_ allow it. So, with her intentions set in mind, she gently turned his body to face her before wrapping her arms around his back in a gentle, yet soothing, embracement.

The blonde in question, who's eyes widened for a brief moment, followed suit and wrapped his own arms around her before finally allowing himself to cry. It wasn't merely a few tears, it was all the tears he had never spilt over his short but harsh lifetime. All the tears he vowed to never show, tears for all the painful memories that he wished to forget yet never would. It was here, Naruto had finally allowed himself to release all the pent up sadness that had occurred in his life. As he did so, Haku had managed to seat them both onto the ground before rocking back and forth while rubbing the blonde's back to sooth him further.

It was here that she had decided to do something she would have never imagined herself doing at this point in her life. After all, she only done it on two or three occasions and even then, it was solely to herself and that was about two or three years ago. What was it that she did?

Simple, she began to sing.

_So... hitotsu-me no yoru ni  
izuko kara koishi ga sekai ni ochiru_

Haku, for the life of her could not believe what she was doing, in fact, she really didn't think she even remembered the song in the first place. However, despite how awkward it was for her, it seemed to be helping, as the boy in her arms began to calm slightly. It wasn't a very noticeable difference, but it was a difference none the less. Hence, she continued her song.

_So... futatsu-me no yoru ni  
koishi no ko ga te wo tori warutsu wo kaku  
Sound life_

As the raven haired girl continued to sing, the blonde, who was still embracing the girl tightly, steadily began to calm down as he focused intently on the woman's beautiful voice as she continued.

_So... mitsu-me no yoru ni  
warutsu no ko wa yonamo ni ue-bu wo utsu_

Soon, the blonde's eyes began to close as his tears began to lesson. He could feel his body relaxing with each passing second and could also feel the fatigue, due to all the events that had taken place on this day, finally taking their toll on him.

_So... yotsu-me no yoru ni  
nami no ko wa kishibe ni shibuki wo ageru  
Sound life_

At this point, Haku could clearly see that what she was doing was definitely working, as the blonde's body now felt completely relaxed compared to mere moments ago. It was also at this point that she remembered something, something she had long since forgotten over the course of her life. Her mother had loved this song, and so did she when she was younger. Hence, every night before she went to sleep, she would ask her mother to sing it to her as a lullaby.

_So... itsutsu-me no yoru ni  
sono kakera ikudomo yonamo wo tataku_

'Her voice,' Thought the blonde as he began to feel drowsy, not because of the song mind you. To him, it was so soothing, almost as soothing the wind blowing through a large clearing while the grass below rustled slightly under ones bare feet with the wind.

_So... mutsu-me no yoru ni  
sono aizu ni tabibito wa tsudoiau  
Sound life_

'Is that of an angel's.' Finished the blonde as felt himself beginning to fall asleep.

_So... nanatsu-me no yoru ni  
omosa no nai fune wa sora e to hashiru_

'It's funny really.' Thought the blonde tiredly.

_So... yatsu-me no asa ni  
izuko kara no uta ga mimi e to todoku_  
Sound life

'An angel,'

_saa... atarashii sora ni  
subete wo shirushita kumikyoku ga hibiku_

'singing a lullaby,'

_Sound life_

'to a demon,'

_Sound life_

'like me.'

It was with that last thought that Naruto had finally drifted to sleep, whilst his head rested on the ice-maiden's shoulder. All the while, Haku never moved an inch, as she held the blonde closer to her while smiling as she felt his chest rising and falling indicating his slumber.

**Village Walls**

Two figures stood atop of the giant walls surrounding and overlooking the village of Konoha. While both were wearing similar attire, consisting of a black cloak with red clouds and traditional kasa, one of the figures was noticeably taller than the other and carrying a massive object on his back, which was completely covered in bandages.

"They were able to escape annihilation but it seems they've taken a lot of damage in the process." Stated the taller man as he gazed down at the village.

"Once a prosperous village," replied the shorter man as his gaze never once left the village that was currently in the process of rebuilding itself. "what a pity."

The taller figure sent his partner a grin, displaying the shark-like row of teeth below the tassels of his kasa. "This isn't like you, even you miss your home village…don't you?"

Twin blazing three tomoe red eyes stared down impassively over the village as he spoke, in voice that was all but chilling to the bone. "No, I don't feel nostalgic at all."

* * *

Ok, again sorry it took so long and I hope the length of this chapter makes up for the long wait. By the way, those who can tell me what the song Haku was singing will get not one, but TWO cookies from me! Also, to those who are planning to bitch about the Ino and Metaru scene, don't. After all, Kagari had her's so its only fair that Metaru has his own as well. After all, you will be seeing more of him and Kagari in this story, as they both play some key roles in later chapters. Oh, and one last thing, to the person who was giving me shit about the Jinchuuriki Chats, here is all I have to say to you. GO FUCK YOURSELF BUDDY!

(Killer Bee stares at a panting and red faced SF beside the room marked JC.)

Killer Bee: Yo man, what's up with chu?

Me: (Turns towards Killer Bee and chuckles sheepishly) Oh nothing.

Killer Bee: Whatever man, are you alright and all?

Me: (Scuffs) Please, this cast aint nothing. Nothing can hurt me fool, for I am the almighty SF! I have no weakness nor feel pain!

Killer Bee: What about all the times Yugito beat the crap out of you?

Me: That was just for show, besides, she never caught me.

Killer Bee: ....whatever you say SF-0 lets hurry up and get inside.

Me: Sure, I go in first of course.

(Opens door, before eyes widen and slams door shut again and starts gripping chest while breathing heavily.)

Killer Bee: DUDE, what wrong!

Me: (Starts wheezing) My....greatest....weakness.

Killer Bee: What is it man, I'll take care of it!

Me: No.....too.....dangerous.

Killer Bee: (Grabs one of his katana's) Screw that, I'll take it on, I can handle it!

(Opens door, gasps, drops katana, and slams door shut again.)

Killer Bee: Oh.....god! (Pulls out a frying pan from out of nowhere and some pancake mix.) Need to make pancakes, must regain strength.

Me: (Sitting on a random couch beside the door while eating gramcrackers while sobbing.) I warned you. (Eats another gramcracker)

(Gaara appears out of nowhere to see me on the couch and Killer Bee shakily trying to heat up the frying pan with a small lighter.)

Killer Bee: (Starts sobbing) I-i-it aint workin man. This shit heating fast enough.

Gaara: (Sweatdrops) What is wrong....with you two.

Me: My.....greatest.....weakness.

Killer Bee: (Still shaking) Is in that room.

Gaara: (Stares at door for a second before gripping the door knob.)

Me and Killer Bee: NO!!

(Gaara opens door to see Naruto tied to a chair shirtless with Yugito in a...revealing nurse outfit.)

Yugito: Now, Naruto-kun, its time for your phyisical. And don't worry, I'll be sure to be...._very_ thorough for your sake.

Naruto: I came in here because I had a tooth ache!!!!

Yugito: Details details...now time for the supposito-

(Door quickly slams)

Gaara: That's not.....cool.

Me: Sexy.....nurses.....greatest......weakness.

(Large shadow-like figure on sofa flipping half-cooked pancakes) PM: Yeah, butt pills are gross. Just like female KyuubixNaruto stories, makes me think Pokemon porn....here, have a flapjack

Killer Bee: (Still shaking) HE MEANS PANCAKE!

Gaara: (Stares at new arrival) How....are you....uneffected by that.

Killer Bee: Better question, who the hell are you and give me my frying pan!

PM: Here you go my Canadian friend.

Killer Bee: WHO"S CANADIAN?!?!?

PM: Well whatever, you see I am a friend of SF and practically co-writer to these little scenes, and the reason that nurse outfit doesn't affect me is elementary my dear Canadian, I PREFER THE MAID OUTFIT HAHAHAHAHA.

Killer Bee: This guy is crazy he thinks he's Detective Conan.

Gaara: I think that's incorrect.

(Muffles shouts) Naruto: HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN ME??

PM: No one really cares bout you...and I think SF ran out of gramcrackers and has proceded to chew on the box...

Me: (Growls while chewing on the box) There aint no more crackers! Must get image of sexy nurses out of head!

PM: Try licking the inside of the box, there might be crums in there.

Me: Hahaahah! (Tears open box) Thanks PatMan!

PM: (Whispers to Killer Bee) There aint no crums in there, I just wanted to give him false hope.

Killer Bee: (Stares at PM before turning to face the crowd) R&R, or be forced to have suppositorys shoved up your ass.

Naruto: NO!!!! IT WON'T FIT!!!

PM: Don't worry, you just gotta relax!


	25. Akatsuki Appears

Yo people! I'm back after such a long wait. Though, I must admit that I did grow a bit lazy as of late but I'm still going to keep going with this story. Anyways, before I begin I have three things that I mush say that are of great importance to me. The first is that I want to congratulate all those who got the song right at the end of the last chapter. COOKIES TO YOU ALL! The second, is really a shout out to the people who have been reviewing since the beginning. **Voidangel Soren**, **NarutosBrat**, **Dragon and Sword Master**,**kyokoaurora** and to many others. You guys have been with me from the beginning and I'm really thankful to you all. Also, special thanks to **The Holy Drucifer** for his very flattering review. THANKS MAN! And finally, this is one that goes to a specific individual who was an anonymous reviewer by the name of "Me". (See bottom for reply)

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_Jutsu

**"Speaking"**Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'**Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Hatake Kakashi was not in the best of moods at the moment. Though, with the state that the village was currently in, not many were. However he was having an even tougher time than most, for a variety of reasons: One, he hadn't had the time to read his precious book all day; Two, he hadn't gotten much sleep in the past week, due to the fact that he had two students in the hospital with one unconscious until recently; And three, said unconscious student had just up and disappeared without leaving a single trace.

Though, on a positive note, he found that he wasn't the only one who was worried about the blonde's strange disappearance - Gai, Zabuza, hell even the Raikage's brother Kirabi were concerned about the situation. Though why the dark skinned man was concerned, Kakashi didn't have the slightest idea. But, regardless of reason, all of those mentioned and quite a few more were out in search for the blonde haired hero of Konoha.

That's right, in less than a few days after the invasion the news of Naruto's epic feat had spread throughout the village like a wildfire. You couldn't go to the market, the academy, or even the bar and not hear the boy's name at least once within the hour. Sure, there were a quite a few people who refused to believe the story, but that was to be expected. Hell, he expected that none would believe it and just assume that one of the Jounin or Jiraiya had beaten the Ichibi. Though, he could honestly say that the idea of Jiraiya defeating the beast more believable than how Naruto had done it. Still, facts were facts and he had heard every detail from what the three yellow beams looked like, to the exact second it had happened.

'Still can't believe he actually stopped a Biju on his own,' thought the man as he hopped from rooftop to rooftop in search for his student. 'With only one swing of a sword no less.'

He would be the first to admit, when Sakura had told him how Naruto had defeated the rampaging beast known as Gaara, he was skeptical at her description. However, when he had asked Anko about it, the woman had proved Sakura's claim as the truth, as did many of the other Chuunin and Jounin who had been stationed by the monument at the time. Even some of the rookie nine had piped in adding more details, which all seemed legitimate from the ones Anko had described. All in all, he was left flabbergasted and was left with more questions than he had before concerning the blonde.

Hence one of the reasons for the search for the boy - he had too many questions bottled up in his mind that he needed answers to. Mind you, he was more concerned about the boy's safety more than anything else, but once it was confirmed that the boy was safe he was going to get his answers.

Sure, the boy had explained to him exactly what he now was, though he still found it hard to believe. He had told him of his sword, who it belonged to, hell he even told him that the feared Kyuubi no Kitsune was a female. A FEMALE! He wasn't sexist by any means, but when he was told of this, he had found himself hard-pressed to believe that. Even now he still wasn't sure whether or not to believe it. However, he had not asked to exactly what extent his new-found powers could go, and after hearing what happened, he needed to know. He trusted his student but if he were to ever let that power get to his head, then he wanted to be sure he could stand toe to toe with him if need be. He hated to think about it in that way, but he had seen great and powerful men succumb to that fate in his lifetime and he would be damned before Naruto suffered the same fate without somebody there to beat some sense into him.

So, with that and other thoughts in mind, the silver haired Jounin picked up the pace as he continued to race down the market district. Unknown to him, a few stores behind him, sat two cloaked figures who were casually sipping some tea in a small restraint.

The bigger of the two glanced over his shoulder, keeping his face hidden under his kasa, before turning his attention back to his partner. "The people around here sure are busy, aren't they?"

The shorter man merely took another sip of his tea before placing it down on the table. "It appears so."

"Sir," said the voice of their waitress as she stood beside the shorter man before placing a plate down in front of him, "Your konbu."

"Thank you."

"No problem sir, enjoy," replied the woman with a polite smile before heading back into the kitchen area.

The larger man watched as the waitress walked away, while grinning a bit as he stared at her rear until she had left his line of vision. Glancing back at his partner, he had to refrain from rolling his eyes as the other man had finished devouring the last of his omusubi before taking another sip of his tea and placing it back down on the table.

"Show off."

"Hn."

A few minutes later, when the waitress returned to deliver the check, she would find that the seats that were once occupied were now empty with no trace of them even being there. Though she did notice the money left on the table… along with a very generous tip set up beside it in a separate pile.

**Hokage Memorial**

Haku let out a sigh as she stared down at the blonde boy still resting comfortably in her arms. In all honesty, she would have never thought that what she did was going to actually put the boy to sleep. Though, she wasn't complaining as she found it rather cute in a way as it reminded her of how an infant would react. After all it was, or at least she assumed, a lullaby and a beautiful one at that. Still, she was starting to feel uncomfortable in the position she was in but she didn't want to wake the boy yet, as he seemed completely content at the moment.

'I don't want to wake him, but my legs are starting to fall asleep,' thought the Ice maiden to herself as she tried to adjust herself without waking the blonde in her arms.

After a few attempts of adjusting her position, Haku begrudgingly decided it was time for her to wake the boy up. However, just as she was about to do so, she ceased her moments as her felt two nearby chakra signatures of whom she did not recognize. The girl narrowed her eyes as she glanced over her shoulder to see two men standing on the path leading in and out of the area.

"Well ain't this cute," stated the bigger man mockingly. "Two kids cuddling together in a secluded place like this. Why, if I didn't know any better, I would say you two were about to fu-"

"We are here for the Jinchuuriki," interrupted the shorter man coldly as he lowered his kasa a bit to keep his face hidden from the girl's view. "Tell us where he is and no harm will come to you."

"And if I do not comply?" asked Haku just as coldly as her hands began to blur through seals, which were positioned by Naruto's chest and out of the two men's view. 'Jinchuuriki, do they mean Sabaku no Gaara?'

"Then I am not responsible for what happens to you."

"Oh, come on, let's just kill the bitch and be done with it!" stated the other man, almost as if he was whining.

"Need I remind you that we are not here to cause a commotion? We are to simply locate and capture the boy then return to base, just as ordered."

The larger man scuffed at this as he grasped the hilt of his sword before pulling it off his back, swinging it over his shoulder and slamming the tip onto the ground, causing the area in which it had connected to crack a bit under the force of this action.

"I get it, don't make too much of a racket, but can I at least kill the bitch and her little boyfriend?"

The other man didn't respond, instead he let out a low sigh of annoyance before waving his hand in a shooing motion. "Do not overdo it."

The man couldn't help but grin at the man's words. With that in mind, he skid the tip of his weapon along the ground until it was positioned behind him before charging forward at speeds Haku wasn't prepared for. Once the man was within striking distance, he brought the tip of his blade up a bit, just enough for it to hover a bit above the ground, before swinging at a horizontal arch. He smirked a bit when he saw the fear in the girl's eyes just as his weapon was about to make contact but the smirk didn't stay long. The moment his sword made contact with his target, the girl shattered into tiny pieces of ice, leaving the man wide-eyed for a brief moment.

However, the man's shock was replaced with a toothy grin as ducked from under a kick that was aimed at his left temple. Before his opponent could even blink, the man grabbed her by the ankle, whilst in mid air, before slamming her hard into the ground, leaving a few cracks in the process. The young woman groaned in agony before having to roll out of the of the man's gigantic sword slamming down at the spot she had just been a mere second ago.

After getting some distance away from the man, Haku quickly returned to her feet only duck under the fist that was sent her way. Haku took this opportunity to try and sweep the man's feet out from under him, only for the man to slam his sword tip first into the ground and somersault over the girl's leg and landing on the other side of his blade with his back facing her. Once he landed, he quickly grasped hold of the hilt to his blade before heaving it out of the ground and whirling around to strike his opponent. However, the moment he turned around, his vision was obscured by the girl's open palm grasping his face whilst her other hand was held firmly on the wrist which he was holding his blade.

"_Hyouton:_" muttered the girl as ice began to rapidly creep along the man's arm and face, "_Hyouten_."

The other man, who hadn't moved since they had arrived on the scene, merely raised an eyebrow as his partner's body was completely covered in a thick layer of ice in a matter of seconds. He had to admit, for someone no older than fifteen, the girl was indeed decently skilled in her element.

Once the man's body was completely covered in ice, Haku released her hold on the man before stepping back. With one of her targets neutralized, she turned her gaze on the man who had yet to move during the scuffle. She glared at the other mysterious man coldly whilst her hands radiated a chilling vapor around them.

However, before she could make her advance upon her second opponent, the sound of laughter coming from all directions caused her eyes to widen and began searching frantically around the area.

"I gotta say, little girl, that your little ice trick was pretty cleaver," said the voice, causing her eyes to widen further before looking back at where she had captured her opponent. She was shocked to note that the man was not encased in the ice, merely water that hadn't yet been frozen by her jutsu. Hell, even the sword that had been frozen as well was gone and replaced with water! "But, you've gotta do better than that if you plan to even touch me."

Soon, Haku began to worry as she couldn't feel the man's chakra signature anywhere. Whoever the man was, he was obviously skilled at hiding it when he needed to. Suddenly, the ground beneath her began to shake and not long after, the same man burst from underground while swinging his blade in a horizontal arc. Unfortunately, this time Haku was unable dodge as the heavily bandaged weapon slammed into her side, which earned him a pain filled gasp as blood and saliva shout out of her mouth.

However, that wasn't all, as the force that was put behind the attack had been enough to send her flying into the air before landing on the ground with an audible thud. The girl groaned as she grasped the right side of her body, as green chakra began to shine around her hands. But, yet again, she was unfortunate as the moment she brought her hand to her side in hopes of healing herself, the man's foot slammed against her back, earning another groan of pain before seeing the man's sword pressed up against her shoulder.

In that instant, she felt all the chakra she had gathered in her hands immediately vanish. That wasn't all she noticed, as it wasn't just the chakra she had flowing through her hands that had vanished, but with each passing second she felt herself weakening, like something was sapping her of any and all of her chakra she currently had.

"You want to know a little something about this sword?" asked the man while still smirking down at her. "My sword isn't like most others, as theirs cut and mine doesn't."

At that moment, the bandages near the tip of his sword were shredded, revealing multiple blue and rather sharp shark scales. The girl didn't even have a moment to register the weapon completely before the man slowly raised it up, causing the scales to drag along the girl's shoulder, tearing the flesh and muscle as it went, earning a loud scream from Haku as he continued until the tip of his blade was off her shoulder.

"What my sword does, if you haven't figured it out yet, is shave," finished the man before positioning his blade along her left shoulder.

"Kisame!"

The said man flinched a bit before turning to face his partner. He gulped when he saw the two blazing red eyes narrowing at him signifying that the man was getting irritated. The man identified as Kisame scowled underneath his kasa before turning his attention back on the raven haired girl on the ground. The girl was clearly in great pain and the large puddle of blood around her arm was also a very clear sign.

Kisame let out a sigh as he heaved his weapon onto his shoulder before reaching down and grabbing the girl by her long hair and slamming her back down onto the ground. He heard her hiss in pain but paid little mind to it. He then removed his blade from his shoulder before positioning the tip onto her throat.

"Game's over for you girl," muttered the man while his grin never once left from his face.

That is, until a powerful fist slammed into his jaw, causing the man to be sent flying across the area and into one of the nearby trees while also knocking off the man's kasa in the process. The shorter man's eyes widened briefly as he stared at the new arrival. The new arrival was none other than a familiar silver haired young man, whose golden slit eyes were glaring at the man who he had just attacked. Kisame let out a growl as he returned to his feet while nursing his now sore jaw.

The sight of the man, made Naruto's eyes widen briefly as he had never seen such a thing before. He had light blue skin, wide eyes like that of a fish and three marks that looked like gills on each side of his face. He also took notice that the man had a Kiri hitae-ate with a long slash mark cutting across the center, signifying that the man was a missing ninja.

"You little shit, that hurt!" yelled out the blue skinned man as he glared right back at the boy who had attacked him.

"_**It only hurt? Damn, I was hoping to smash your skull in**_._**"**_ 'Though hitting this guy felt like punching solid steel!'

The other stranger, who was still watching the boy with now narrowed eyes, was baffled. Mind you, he could assume that this boy was the one who had been sitting with the girl not long ago so where he came from was obvious. No, it was how had this boy managed to apply such force in only one punch to send his partner across the area.

The man was no fool, for he knew for a fact that Kisame was no pushover by any means. It was a rare feat that anyone could make the man even budge under a single attack, with the exception of a few individuals in their organization. If anything, it took a normal person all of their strength just to make the man flinch, let alone send him flying into the air. The only person he could think of off the top of his head that could do such a feat was Tsunade, who could more than likely knock the man off his feet with her weakest punch, never-mind what could happen should she put all of her strength into such an attack.

The sight of Kisame returning to his feet while spitting a glob of blood out of his mouth was what brought the shorter man out of his train of thought. Though he knew the man could handle himself, he also knew that this opponent was not to be taken likely. Knowing Kisame, he would still hold back and thus decided that, should the situation call for it, he would be forced to intervene, Kisame's pride be damned.

The said man was still glaring at his newest opponent with a scowl etched on his face. Not many people have actually managed to sucker punch him as he always prided himself on being fully aware of his surroundings. Yet, this brat had managed to do so and didn't appear fazed by this killing intent he had been subconsciously directing at him since the moment he saw him.

"_**Are you going to do something or just stand there glaring at me**_?_**"**_ asked the silver haired boy with a smirk.

Kisame didn't take this jab all too kindly, as the killing intent was now fiercer than ever. It was here that Naruto realized that, whoever this guy was, he was on a whole different level in comparison to Gaara, as his legs began to buckle under the sheer intensity of the man's murderous gaze. Hell, he was doing everything he could to keep himself from fleeing like his body wanted him to.

Within seconds, the man was in front of him, with his massive weapon arched back, ready to strike him along his side. When the man swung, he was surprised when the Jinchuuriki's hand had risen in the flash of a second and caught the weapon on the area in which the bandages were still covering. Kisame's eyes remained widened as he stared back at the golden spheres of his opponent's as the said opponent glared at him with just as much intensity as he himself had.

Despite how it may have appeared, Naruto could feel the pain that was currently throbbing in his wrist as he continued to hold the man's sword at bay. He had to admit, that out of all the people he had fought up until now, this man was possibly the strongest of them all. Even Gaara, one of his strongest opponents to date, wasn't even remotely close to the sheer strength that this guy was displaying.

With a vicious growl, he pushed the man's weapon away, while doing his best to block out the pain in his wrist, before slamming his fist into the opposing man's gut with as much force as he could currently muster. He was surprised when his punch connected, the man merely gave a low grunt whilst his feet slid a few meter's back leaving shallow trenches in the ground. Now he knew something was up, as not even a few minutes ago, he had sent the man flying and yet now it seemed like his attacks where doing absolutely nothing to him.

Kisame groaned a bit as he rubbed his slightly sore abdomen before returning his gaze back upon the now dumbstruck boy in front of him. The blue skinned man gave his opponent a shark like grin before swinging his sword horizontally at the boy. Not wanting to injure his wrist anymore than he had already, Naruto chose to instead duck under the attack before leaping towards his enemy and launching a kick to the man's jaw. This time, however, Kisame was able to dodge the attack by leaning back.

Whilst still in mid air, Naruto spun his body as his youki whip began to form. With his body still in the air, Naruto lashed out his whip towards his opponent. Not expecting this, Kisame raised the flat side of his blade to block the whip, only to hear the bandages on his sword beginning to tear. He watched as Naruto landed back on the ground with his back facing him along with the strange yellow whip that was now lying limply by his side. A split second later, the boy whirled around and lashed out his whip once more, only for the man to easily evade it and come rushing forward with his sword arched high in the air.

When the man swung, Naruto was again able to avoid the attack by parrying to his left, causing the blade to slam into the ground. However, just as he was about extend his claws, he had been struck by a powerful upper cut to his jaw, sending him soaring into the air. Just as the boy was about to pass over him, Kisame grabbed Naruto by his ankle and slammed him down onto the ground, causing the patch of earth to crack due to the force he had put into it.

There was no gasp when Naruto collided with the ground, nor was there a cry of pain. It was simply him laying on the ground with his eyes widened to their peek and his mouth gaping open in a silent scream. The poor lad wasn't even given a moment to feel the full effects of the pain before feeling the man stomp onto his chest causing his body to be sent underground due to the force of this action.

Kisame continued to smirk as he stared down at where the boy was once sprawled out. Raising his foot out from underneath the pile of rubble, he took a moment to survey his work. Currently, the boy's upper body was underground, with the exception of his arms where were currently laying limply on the ground beside him, while his legs where barely above ground. Heaving his sword back onto his shoulder, he turned his attention back on his partner, whose eyes remained hidden beneath the kasa.

"Was that truly necessary?" asked the man curiously

Kisame merely shrugged. "Heh, not really, I just always wanted to do that."

Hearing his partner's grunt in response, the former Kiri ninja grinned before turning back to his downed opponent. Part of him was hoping that the kid would prove more of a challenge then he did, as he hadn't had himself a good fight in quite a long time. But, he should have known that for a kid to even come close to giving him such a challenge was laughable at best.

'I gotta admit though,' thought the man as he stared down at the boy's location, 'He packed one hell of a punch.'

Just when he was about to turn away from the kid, he felt a small quake in the ground below him. Soon, yellow wisps of youki began to surround the boy who was still underground while his fists began to clench tightly to the point that they began to bleed due to his claws piercing through his skin. A few moments later, rocks, dirt, and dust exploded up into the air, forcing Kisame to shield his eyes to avoid being hit by some of the debris. Suddenly, Naruto burst out from inside the cloud of dust with his arm reared back with his claws extended.

Noticing this, Kisame raised his sword to block just as his opponent had swung at him. Naruto gritted his teeth in anger as he felt his claws scraping against the man's blade while also tearing through some of the bandages covering the majority of the weapon. As his claws left the weapon, the boy twisted himself around before launching a kick at the man's weapon, which connected and thus causing the man to skid along the ground a few feet back. Without missing a beat, Naruto began to channel youki through his lungs while inhaling a significant amount of air.

"_**Kitsune-bi!"**_

Kisame watched with utter amazement as ghost blue flames erupted from his opponent's maw, forming a significantly large fireball which was approaching him in high speeds. With no other options, Kisame tossed his sword high into the air before flashing through seals in a rapid pace. However, before he could complete his technique, someone else decided it was time to intervene.

"_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu_!"

It was surprising to say the least as a second ball of fire equal in size as the one heading towards him, crashed into the ghostly blue fire, causing the two colliding flames to clash for a brief moment before canceling each other out. Both he and Naruto turned to see the mysterious other with his hand still in front of his face as the flames continued to dance and burn brightly around him.

The man in question lowered his hand until both of them on either side of him while once again hidden underneath the sleeves of his cloak. Though you couldn't tell due to the kasa, had you been able to see his face you would clearly see that he was staring at the silver haired boy with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. It perplexed him as he saw no seals performed for such a jutsu, hardly took any chakra to use, and he had never seen a Katon technique that had blue flames. It puzzled him greatly, yet he knew he couldn't dwell on it for very long. It wouldn't take much longer before their presence would be known and that meant that he and Kisame had to escape the village before their identities were compromised.

The sound of cursing brought the man out of his thoughts as his red eyes glanced over at his partner, who was now rubbing his head while his sword lay at his feet. Apparently, Kisame had momentarily forgotten that he had thrown his sword into the air, and when gravity kicked in, he didn't remember in time to actually catch his weapon before it hit him. Thus, the man's precious sword came down and knocked him on the head, which explained the curses he was now sputtering.

Naruto paid attention to none of this, had he done so he more than likely would have burst out laughing. No, he was more concerned on the man who had stopped his attack. It wasn't how he stopped it that had him concerned. It was his scent, as it seemed familiar, yet he just couldn't piece together exactly what it was that was familiar about him. However, even if he couldn't describe that specific scent, it didn't mean that there weren't any other scents lingering off the man. The one that was the clearest being blood. And he had thought that Gaara reeked of blood, this guy was practically bathed in the stench. Even after taking a small whiff of the smell made his stomach churn in disgust, to the point that he was almost on the verge of vomiting.

Despite the foul odor, Naruto was able to deduce two things, that whoever the guy was, his scent was very familiar and he was _very _strong. The only problem was that he still had no idea as to why his scent was familiar to him.

"Kisame," uttered the man, causing Kisame to glance over at him while still nursing the bump on his head, "We are leaving, now."

The tone in which the man had spoken was chilling to say the least. In fact, Naruto was sure he had never heard such a tone coming from anyone. It wasn't full of malice mind you, it was just the sheer lack of emotion made the hairs on his neck stand on edge. With Kisame, he knew that there was no room for argument, what his partner said was final.

"Got it," was Kisame's simple reply before retrieving his sword and Shunshining beside his partner.

It was when the boy realized that the two were about leave, did Naruto react. With a snarl, Naruto rushed towards the two men as his youki whip came to life at the edge of his fingertips once again. However, just as he was about to lash out against his opponents, the shorter man appeared in front of him, his wrist held tightly in his grip while his blazing red eyed stared down at him impassively from under the shade of his kasa.

In that moment, Naruto's eyes widened as he stared into the blazing orbs of the infamous Sharingan. He now knew why the scent of this man seemed so familiar, as it was almost exactly similar to that of Sasuke's own. That however, only raised more questions as to who this man exactly was as, from what he understood, Sasuke was the only Uchiha left.

"_**Who the hell are you?"**_ asked the boy, expressing his thoughts.

The man in question merely smirked a bit before replying. "You should show more concern for your own wellbeing."

Suddenly, the ground beneath him began to grow cold and damp from under his feet. He could feel the soft green grass below him beginning to grow hard, flaky, and overall dying. Before he could even ponder as to why this was happening, he had received his answer. As not even a moment later, a thin mirror of ice risen up in the location next to where he and the Uchiha were standing before Haku's body emerged from inside and jabbed a senbon deep into the enemies neck.

He could see the man's eyes widen in surprise for a brief moment before smirking once more as his body burst into a flock of crows. Blinking a few times in surprise himself, once he regained his bearings he searched the area for their enemies, only to his vision being badly obscured by the flocking crows flaying all over the area around the two of them.

It was the brief sight of red, that alerted Naruto to where his opponent was hiding. However, when he turned to his left to confirm his sightings, he was disappointed to find nothing but more crows.

"Consider yourself fortunate boy," spoke the voice of their mysterious Uchiha from what seemed like every direction. "However, should we cross paths again in the future, you will not be so fortunate."

In with that, the flock of crows burst into white smoke, leaving both himself and Haku alone in the area once more. Thinking that he could still track down the two men by their scent, Naruto took a whiff of the air only to come up dry. Wherever the two had gone, he couldn't tell as the smoke from the dispersed crows was now blocking his scenes too great for him to track them.

The sound of something heavy collapsing to the ground snapped him out of his thoughts. Whirling around he come to found Haku sprawled out face first into the dirt and was completely motionless. Not a moment later, the mirror of ice she had created behind her shattered, causing it to crumble to the ground as well, leaving nothing more than a large puddle in its place.

"_**Ha**_k_**u-chan!"**_ yelled the boy while his appearance reverted back to normal as he rushed over towards his friend.

Once he was kneeled down beside her, he placed two fingers by her neck and let out a sigh once he found a pulse. Once he removed his fingers he gently scooped the girl up off the ground and rose to his feet once more. After making sure he had her secured in his arms, he pumped a bit of chakra into his legs before racing back towards the village. However, unknown to him, a stray crow was perched on the tip of the Hokage Memorial statue watching him as he left. The said bird cocked its head to the right, pecked down on the statue a few times before puffing out of existence.

**Forest of Death**

Twin Sharingan eyes snapped open as information flooded his mind from what the crow he had remain behind. Part of him was even further intrigued with the boy, more so after he had changed his appearance. Of course, this also lead to a rather annoying development, as the boy that they had been searching for just happened to be the same person they had encountered not five minutes ago. Still, this didn't bother him all that much since they now had some new data that their leader would find interesting, regardless of how little information there was.

"Find out anything?" asked his partner, who was casually perched on a fallen tree trunk.

"It appears as though Zetsu has not been keeping a close eye on our targets as of late."

"What do you mean?"

"Simple: the boy you were fighting was indeed our target."

The man merely growled in annoyance before slamming his fist into the truck, causing a good chunk of it to break off in the process. "Well shit, if we'd known that I would have just finished him right then and there!"

"Calm yourself Kisame," ordered the man while sending the man yet another chilling glare. "It is merely a minor setback in Akatsuki's plans. While we may not have the boy in our possession, we do have more information on him than we did before hand and thus, we can still exploit it."

The blue skinned man merely grunted in reply before hopping off the tree trunk and landing back onto the ground while hoisting his sword on his shoulder. "You got a point there, but what do we do now? You said yourself that we don't want to cause a commotion and we sure as hell did just now."

"I am aware of that Kisame," replied the man with a sigh while rubbing the bridge of his nose. "The best course of action at the moment is to wait until he leaves the safety of the village before pursuing him further."

"How do you know he's going to leave anytime soon? I doubt after the stunt we pulled the village will let him leave so easily."

"That may be true, however, I believe that as much of an asset he is to the village, they will have no choice but to use him for missions due to Konoha's weakened state. It will only be a matter of time before they shall require his assistance and when they do, we shall be prepared."

Kisame could only nod his head in agreement at the man's words. Though, he should have already expected this sort of thing from him as he was almost never wrong. The few cases where he was, he had adjusted and made a new plan in its place, which resulted in them succeeding anyway and had also gotten the two of them out of troublesome situations in the past.

"So, are we just going to camp out outside the village or wait in this place until we find out something?"

"I shall inform Zetsu to keep tabs on the boy until the time is right. When that time comes, do not hold back even slightly. Is that clear Kisame?"

Feeling the man's intense glare upon him, Kisame merely sighed before replying. "Understood… Itachi."

* * *

_Hyouton: Hyouten_ - Ice Release: Freezing Point

_Kitsune-bi_ - Fox Fire

_Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu_ - Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique

Well, there you are, the next chapter for you guys and R&R. Now, as I said up top, this last bit is for the guy "Me" who sent me a rather...frustrating review. It's posted on chapter 15 for those who wish to read what this guy had to say. You can't miss it, its the very first one you find when you look. Also, you can thank him for the lack of a Jinchuuriki Chat this time along with my loss of respect for anonymous reviewers from this point on. Nothing against you guys, but its people like this who ruin it for everybody, regardless if they aren't involved.

Before I begin I want to say that I don't like to do this, especially because it waists time to all of you readers along with myself. However this little fucker has this coming and I'm not going to let that little bitch get away with what he said. And "Me" if your reading this right now, I hope grow some balls to PM me afterwards because after your little flame, it fucked up my train of thought over how pissed off I was about it.

Now, I'll admit, the fight between Neji and Naruto wasn't one of my best chapters I've brought out, but I knew EXACTLY what the fuck I was doing. You think Naruto's newest technique is stupid? I don't, nobody else does, so it seems like your all alone with that thought you little prick! But, what I find stupid is that you don't even how an account and yet you are giving me shit about my story. If you're going to flame my story, at least have grow some balls and get an account, THEN send me a review so that I don't have to waist other peoples time to reply to you! You also said you don't like to be disappointed, who the fuck are you to act like you're the shit when you send an anonymous review? Seems to me like you were the one who's fat head got too big to support there, you cock sucker! Now I could go on forever, but my reader's don't need to read everything I have to say to you. So here's my last statement to you, punk ass bitch!

Get an Account or get the fuck out!


	26. The Departure

Yo everybody! I'm back and feeling better than ever. Though, I could have done without another trip to the Hospital, but I guess it couldn't be helped. Still, I've finally returned and now its time for some good news. First off, I'm finally getting started with the Tsunade Retrieval Arc. As for my reactions to that flamer, thanks yall, and again sorry about waisting everyone's time on something so pointless. Still, I don't regret doing what I did, I just wish it could have been avoided but, to me at least, it couldn't. You can all thank NarutosBrat for breaking me out of my slump, he summed it up rather well and I thank him greatly for it. THANKS BRO! Oh, and before I get started, this chapter hasn't been betaed yet so PLEASE don't bug me about any spelling errors you might find. Well, I delayed you enough, on with the chapter!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_Jutsu

**"Speaking"**Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'**Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Konoha Hospital, it was, and still is, one of the greatest treasures in Konoha for a verity of reasons. To some, it was just a simple hospital that cared for both civilian and shinobialike. Not many people chose to truly give it the full credit it deserved. As the generations of old and new passed, many aspiring doctors and medical staff had studied, and performed in this very place. The best example of their work had been the legendary Tsunade, who had become a prodigy and a genius in her line of work. It was with her accomplishments, theories, and medical advancements, which made this specific hospital the best ranking medical facility in the elemental nations.

Sadly the current generation of young shinobi had forgotten or cared little of this and thus, only saw it as a simple hospital, nothing more or nothing less.

"WHO THE HELL DID YOU SAY ATTACKED HAKU!"

And apparently, neither did Zabuza as his voice echoed throughout the numerous hallways throughout the hospital. A single nurse, who was conveniently standing near the room the voice had originated from, had gathered the courage to peek inside the room. In the center of the room stood Zabuza, towering over a young blond boy, who was currently cowering below the man while shaking slightly.

"S-some guy named Kisame." Answered the boy while shaking a bit as he glanced up at the former missing nin.

The man let out a snarl as he clinched his fist tightly before whirling around to his left and slamming his fist into the concrete wall. The results, left the wall cracking a bit due to the force in which was applied while a fist sized hole remained as the man removed his fist. Naruto, couldn't help but wince a bit as the man turned his gaze upon him. He was not stupid, Zabuza was someone Naruto knew he didn't want to trifle with even when he wasn't angry. Now though, was a completely different story all together, and had further reminded him of why he was called Demon of the Mist.

The guy was leaking killing intent to the point that he felt he was suffocating in the tiny hospital room. It was so staggering, that he thought that the walls would start closing in around him. He wasn't claustrophobic, after all being stuck in these rooms all the time in his younger years made it difficult to develop such a phobia. However, for the few moments that the man's killing intent had been releasing, he was beginning to think that he might develop such a thing if he didn't get out of the room sometime soon.

It had seemed like his prayers were answered, as the man turned to face him, he jerked his head towards the door while the pressure that had built up in the room began to die down a bit.

"Get out."

Needless to say, he didn't need to be told twice as he took one last glance at Haku's unconscious form on the single bed in the room before rushing out the door. A loud slam was heard after his hasty exit and the boy let out a groan as he leaned up against the wall beside the door.

"I take it he didn't like the news of Haku-senpai's condition?" Asked the nurse, who was still standing on the opposite end of the doorway.

The blond could only sigh as he pushed himself off the wall to face her. "It's to be expected, he does see her as his own daughter after all. It's only natural that he's upset over her injuries."

"I agree, though I believe he should learn to express it in a more….suitable manner."

"Tell me about it." Groaned out the boy as he grasped his shoulders and started shaking, portraying the look of freezing. "I swear I thought I was stuck in a freaking blizzard."

The nurse let a faint giggle escape her lips as the boy added more drama to it by purposely chattering his teeth. Once he had heard the young woman's laugh, he instantly ceased his act and grinned a bit as he returned to his former posture.

"So, how bad a shape is she?" asked the boy as the grin dropped from his face and was replaced by that of worry and seriousness.

The nurse, noticed his change of attitude and smiled a bit. She would admit, though not knowing the boy personally, he was a rather interesting person. Yet, he was taking this far too seriously considering all the other patients that had arrived here over the past six days were much more severe than the ones Haku had received.

"You shouldn't worry so much. The worst of the injuries was her shoulder, which was handled within half an hour. The only real issue is her chakra exhaustion which, after a few days of rest, will be taken care of and she will be back on her feet."

"That's good." Replied the blond as he wiped a little bit of sweat off his forehead. "At least it wasn't anything too serious."

"Yes, it is quite fortunate indeed. Now, if you would please excuse me I have more duties to attend to. Oh, and it was a pleasure to meet you Uzumaki-san!"

With that said, the young woman took a brief opportunity to grasp a hold of his hand, shake it once, before whirling around and rushing down the hallway. Naruto, merely blinked at the woman's bizarre behavior. Shaking his head, he decides that, now that he's here, to visit a few of his friends....if they were still here that is.

As he walked down the hallway, he began to sniff the air, hoping to catch a scent of any of his friends. He glad to note that they were still here, yet at the same time was concerned about their conditions. He was out for six days, more than enough time to heal most minor wounds on ones person. However, if they were still here after such a long period of time, which meant that, something was wrong. Taking a few more whiffs into the air, he decided to go with the most important person on his list of people, Tenten.

**Room 508**

Tenten, for a lack of better term, was stumped. What was she stumped about? Simple, since Yugito's visit earlier that day, she had been questioning as to what a Jinchuuriki was. She knew she had heard it somewhere before but just could not place as to where she had heard it from. So, deciding that she had nothing better to do, she had asked a nurse if she could get a dictionary.

Now, we find her sitting up on her bed, staring down at the book that was now lying in her lap with her flipping through pages in hopes to find the meaning of the work. She was currently flipping through the Ji section and yet was having little luck at finding the word she was looking for. After scanning the page she was currently on, she let out a frustrated growl when she didn't find the word and flipped to the next page, only to find nothing on that page either.

"Where the hell is it?" Growled out the girl as she continued scanning through the pages.

Just as she was about to turn the page once again, a sudden knock on the door snapper her out of her search.

"Come in."

When the door opened, she was half hoping that is was Yugito again, or even Naruto. Who had entered her vision, was someone who she had honestly never expected to see.

"Hello, Tenten-san." Greeted her guest while giving her a polite wave with his right hand.

Tenten frowned at the sight of the boy who had entered, as it was none other than Metaru, the boy who had injured her during the preliminary rounds of the exams. She might not have seen much of him during his time in the village, but she still wished to rather cease seeing him again at all.

Still, he seemed rather….different this time around. When she had fought him then he seemed calm, cold, and above all, arrogant. Now though, he still retained his calm attitude, yet he didn't seem as cold as before, nor as arrogant either. Judging by his posture, he seemed to be hesitant and unsure of himself. Still, despite this change of attitude, it didn't make seeing him again any more pleasant to see.

"What do you want?" Replied the girl as she turned her attention back onto the dictionary while keeping in mind that the kunai, which Yugito had left in her room, was still hidden underneath the covers beside her.

Metaru, let out a sigh as he stepped further into the room. He noticed that the girl's hand under the sheets move ever slightly with each step he took towards her. He wasn't stupid; he knew that she was prepared in case she thought that he was going to strike her once again. This proved to him just how badly he had screwed up and further influenced him to carry out what he had planned to do. So, removing his left hand from behind his back, which had been positioned there since he had knocked on the door, he brought it forward and placed the banquet of Hyacinth he had bought on the side of her bed, just below the spot in which Tenten's hand had been clutching the kunai under the sheet.

"Those are for you." Replied the boy with a small blush.

Now, don't misunderstand, he had no feelings towards the girl in front of him. Even if he did, the thought of what Naruto would do to him should he try anything was more than enough to scare him away. No, the reason for the blush was for a simple fact about him. He had never bought flowers for people, nor had he ever visited any specific people in hospitals, especially the opposite sex. So, for him to actually come to a hospital to do such a thing was a rather embarrassing and new sensation to him.

Tenten, not knowing any of this, was rather surprised by this. Releasing her hold on the kunai, she brought her only working arm and picked up the flowers and examined them. They seemed nice, and even though she tended to avoid such girlie things, she did find them rather beautiful. Still, for someone like Metaru to come by just to drop something like this off made her feel rather….uncomfortable. She wouldn't have minded if it was Naruto, but coming from a guy dressed in all black with a sword strapped to his back kind of creeped her out.

"Um…thanks." Said Tenten unsurely. "But, um, I'm not available so sorry."

When she had looked back at the boy's face, she found herself hard-pressed not to laugh. The poor boy was as red as a tomato and his entire composer had been lost after her simple statement.

"N-no, no, no, no!" Stammered the boy as he tried to regain his lost composer. "I-I had just wanted to offer my apologizes and I was informed that those flowers stood for forgiveness."

It was at that point, the short moment of amusement that had transpired just a few moments ago was replaced by a sober atmosphere. Tenteneyed the flowers that she was currently holding before turning back to face the fellow brunette, who was currently on his right knee with his left arm perched on his left kneecap. His head was bowed, and his right fist was pressed into the ground. Clearly, the boy was showing as much respect he could give, and she couldn't help but feel a tad bit of pity for him. He had stooped so low just to repent, and yet she was still finding it difficult to forgive him.

Part of her wanted to forgive him, as his actions where nowhere as bad in comparison to what Yugito had done. Yet, another part of her, the stubborn part, wanted to make him suffer as much as she had. Was that so wrong of her? Did it make her a bad person to want some form of punishment for his actions? She already knew the answer to that question, and yet she couldn't bring herself to answer it. So, the question that remained was simple.

To forgive him or not to forgive him.

**Outside**

Naruto could only frown as he pushed himself away from the wall beside the door in which Tenten was staying in. As he was coming up the stairs leading to Tenten's room, he had caught sight of Metaru walking into the room just as he had arrived. Though, he did see the flowers, he didn't think too much of it until he had heard what was happening inside.

Now, he felt there was no need for him to stay any longer. Should he just walk in while the two were still together in the same room, all it would do was raise the tension even more so than before. He didn't want that, so he decided to do the next best thing, and headed for Neji's room. However, just as he turned down the hallway leading towards the staircase, he came face to face with none other than Jiraiya. The man blinked a few times in surprise before a grin began to creep along his face.

"Ah, there you are brat!" Stated the man while still grinning at him. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Why?" Asked the blonde with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, one is because you randomly disappeared from the hospital." Stated the man as Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "And two, is because you and I got a mission to take care of."

"Really?" Now confusion and sheepishness was replaced by excitement as he stared back at Jiraiya with a grin equal to his own. "What rank is it? Who else is going? Is it going to be out of the village?"

"Calm down, calm down brat I'll explain everything once you go pack your stuff. We're going to be gone for quite a while so you might want to grab a month's supply of stuff before we head out. As for who's going, it's to be me, you and a surprise guest that's tagging along on this mission."

"Sweet, I'll get ready in a….oh"

Now it was Jiraiya's turn to raise an eyebrow in confusion at Naruto's now downcast look. "What's up brat?"

"I still got a lot of people to visit, you mind if I do that before we leave?" Asked the blonde with a hopeful look in his eyes.

"Naruto, this mission is important and as such it is our top priority to complete it as quickly as possible." Answered the man with a serious expression on his face. "This mission is of great importance to the village. I'm sorry Naruto, but I need you ready and moving in an hour."

"What's so important that you can't even give me ten minutes to see my friends?" asked the blonde with narrowed eyes.

"Simple, searching for our next Hokage."

Upon hearing that, Naruto's anger diminished, and was replaced with a bit of lingering sadness. He knew that with Sarutobi dead that a replacement was in order. However, to him it didn't feel right to have the old man replaced so soon, even after he had just come to terms with the old man's death. He could understand that the village was simply trying to move on, instead of mourning the loss of a great leader. But for him, who had just recently found out about Sarutobi's death not even an hour or two ago, it didn't sit well.

"Again, I'm sorry Naruto, but this needs to be done as quickly as possible before our enemies take notice to our weakened state. Without a Hokage, we could end up in a very bad situation."

After hearing this, Naruto merely let out a sigh as he glanced back at the Sannin who was staring at him with a look a pure seriousness etched on his features.

"Where do you want me to meet you?" Was his only question, in a calm and soft tone in his voice.

"At the main gate of the village, we will depart as soon as you arrive so be quick about it."

With a nod, the boy walked past the man and headed straight for the staircase. However, just as he was about to leave head down the stairs, Jiraiya had spoken, with his back still turned to him.

"Naruto," Glancing back at the man, he waited for the man to continue whatever it was he had to say. "I know you don't like the idea of someone replacing Sarutobi-sensei. But, as I told you the day of the finals, we all have to make choices that we don't necessarily like. This is for the best, and I can tell you in all honestly, Sarutobi-sensei would not have wanted us to mourn over his death."

Turning his head to face the blonde, he gave him a rather small sad smile as he said his last piece. "He strongly believed that you had the Will of Fire burning through your veins, as do I. But, don't let his death diminish it, instead let it become the fuel to make it grow into something greater than anyone in this world has ever seen."

With that said, Jiraiya vanished in a swirl of leaves as he left Naruto standing in place with his face downcast and a frown on his face. A few moments later, his head had risen, and he made his way down the stairs and towards the exit of the Hospital.

He had a mission to carry out, and he sure as hell wasn't going to be wasting anymore time sulking over Sarutobi's death. Jiraiya was right; the old man wouldn't have wanted that from him. He would want him to moveon with his life and not live in the past. With that thought in mind, he raced back to his home as quickly as he could, all the while, Jiraiya's last statement echoing inside his mind as he ran.

**Training Ground 32**

The sound of multiple birds chirping at once filled the training ground in which Sasuke was currently occupying followed not long after by a loud crash that had caused multiple wildlife around the said area to flee. In the center of the cloud of dust and rubble, stood Sasuke, panting heavily as his Sharingan deactivated a few seconds after the said crash. The boy, glanced back at his target, which had been a large bolder that was in the center of the clearing. Currently, it had two gaping holes on it, yet neither of which were enough to pierce it all the way through.

He had been out of the Hospital for going on three days now, and the moment he was released, he went straight to training once more. Many had stated that it was unwise to do such a thing after just being released, but he didn't care. Spending three days in that place had him riled up and ready to release most of the pent up energy he had been storing during his stay there.

Deciding now was a good time to take a break; the boy sat down on the soft grass before taking out a small bottle of water and took a huge gulp of the refreshing liquid inside. Once that was done, he let out a sigh before falling onto his back and stared up into the mid-afternoon sky. As he lay there, his thoughts reverted back to his confrontation with Gaara along with the other events that had occurred at the Hokage Monument.

Even now, he was still shocked as to what his teammate had done and part of him was jealous for the power in which the blond now had at his disposal. If he had that kind of power, he would easily be able to accomplish his lifetime goal and be rid of his kin-slaying brother. But, the other part of him was rather glad he didn't have that power. Reason why is because even he knew power led to corruption and that wasn't what he wanted. All he wanted was to kill his brother, not become something akin to a god.

Not only that, but what he really wanted was to fight him face to face, not resorting to an attack of which Naruto had displayed. If it had been that way, Sasuke would feel nothing from such a victory. If he was to do battle with Itachi, he wanted it to be a battle of skill, to see if he had finally managed to step out of his brother's shadow once and for all. Defeating him the way Naruto had defeated Gaara would seem to like an empty victory in his eyes.

Though, in Naruto's case with Gaara, that wasn't an empty victory. The boy was a demon, plain and simple. Though his brother might have been just as evil as Gaara was, his brother was still human. Gaara, on the other hand, was not and therefore, made it a rather fruitful victory on Naruto's part.

At that thought, Sasuke allowed himself to chuckle at where his thoughts were taking him. 'To think, I'm actually complementing the dobe on something for once.'

After Naruto's supposed victory, it was no surprise to him that the boy was considered a hero, hence why his respect for his teammate grew ever slightly. He didn't care all too much if the boy was considered a hero or not, to him the blond was still the idiot he had always been. It was, he supposed, the same with him being considered a teme in Naruto's eyes, for he didn't see him as the 'Last Noble Uchiha' like everyone else did. He saw him as an ass hole, and that, regardless if he ever admitted it, was what he respected most about him.

The blond didn't judge people on their status, or their backgrounds. He judged them on how _they_acted around others and himself. The only person who was an exception to that rule was Sakura, but he was beginning to suspect that his judgment of her was going to change soon. Still, that was how he assumed Naruto judged people, and he was pretty sure he was corrected on that assumption.

Before the boy could ponder any further on his blond teammate, the sound of something whizzing through the air, snapped him out of his thoughts and had given him a few seconds to roll out of the way as three senbon landed in the spot he had just been laying at. With Sharingan activated, he glanced up the tree, only to see the ever grinning face of Anko, who was perched on a tree just on the edge of the clearing.

"Yo!" Waved the woman while still grinning cheekily at the raven haired boy.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Sasuke, clearly annoyed by the woman's actions to garter his attention.

"Oh come on, I knew you would dodge that so why are you getting so pissy at me for?"

"If I had been any other Genin, I could have been injured and back in the Hospital. Be grateful that I'm not an average Genin, otherwise you more than likely would have been demoted or worse for attacking a fellow Konoha shinobi."

"Psh, like I care, you still dodged it so therefore you have no right to complain. Beside's I wasn't aiming for anything vital, just a shallow cut on your left shoulder and cheek, nothing more or less."

Still glaring at the woman, he ceased the flow of chakra to his eyes, causing his Sharingan to deactivate in the blink of an eye. Once his Sharingan was deactivated, the Jounin leaped down and landed in the spot in which her senbon were located before bending over and retrieving her weapon's. Once they were collected, she turned her attention back towards the Uchiha before grinning at him once more.

"So, Mr. Crybaby, you wanna spar?" Asked the woman in a sweet tone, which Sasuke knew was laced with deception. He wasn't hailed a genius for nothing, and he knew that should he except, he was more than likely going to get his ass handed to him rather easily. "Or, if you'd prefer, I can spread a few rumors about your little tear jerker moment at the Monument."

In an instant, the woman's vision was obscured by the multiple leaves being kicked up by Sasuke's _Shunshin no Jutsu_.

'Oh, this is going to be fun!' Thought the violet haired woman as she positioned herself in a defensive poster, ready for any attack that the boy should send her way.

**With Naruto**

The door to Naruto's home creaked as he closed the door behind him. After locking everything up, Naruto placed the last of his storage scrolls into his ninja pouch before letting out a sigh. Turning his attention down at his sword, which was once again strapped to the left side of his hip, he adjusted it and began to head in the direction of the main gate leading in and out of the village.

As he walked down the road, he couldn't help but notice all the stares he was getting from those around him. Most other times, he would simply ignore them, and not spare anyone a second glance. But this time, the stares were clearly different than the usual glares he received on a daily bases. Some were gaping at him, others would break into quiet mutterings with the person closest to them. The one thing that really had him confused was the female population, as they were quite a few who were looking at him as if he was fresh meat. So, it was needless to say that he was a tad bit freaked out by the strange looks he was getting, and even more so when someone latched onto his back.

"Naruto-kun!" cried the person, whom he confirmed was female.

That one act was like spraying a hornet nest with a water-gun. As everyone who was currently in the area swarmed around the boy, majority of which were women. Before he knew it, his clothes, his limbs, even his hair was being pulled all different directions as the females all tried to get a piece of the blond. After several minutes of tugging, Naruto had finally had enough and did something he knew damn well would never work. But, in the midst of a bad situation, anything that caused a distraction was useful.

"Look! Hatake Kakashi without his mask on!" Shouted the blonde while pointing his finger in a random direction. 'Fuck I'm screwed.'

"Really?!"

To his immense surprise, all females who were once pulling at him in every which way, all released their hold on him and were currently searching in all directions for the sight in which Naruto had mentioned. Not letting such a good opportunity slip, Naruto cautiously managed to get out of the crowd of females before rushing towards the main gate as fast as he could, all the while snickering at his little stunt.

'I can't believe that worked!' Thought the blonde while still snickering a bit to himself.

After running for a few good minutes, Naruto finally slowed down to a walk while glancing over his shoulder just to be sure that no one was following. Seeing no one, the blonde let out a sigh before turning his attention to where he was going. It didn't take him too long until the main gates to the village finally entered his line of vision. Even from where he was, it was easy to spot Jiraiya, who was standing near the large doors with his arms crossed over his chest. However, he could not find the other person who was supposed to accompany them on the mission, but merely shrugged it thinking that the person just hadn't arrived yet.

Just when he was ten feet of the gate, he was surprised when something bumped into him from behind. Thinking it was another one of the females from before, the boy whirled around only to be tackled to the ground and have something wet….licking his face. Upon closer inspection, he found that it was a dog, a very familiar dog that had always done this to him.

"You really need to stop that." Groaned out Naruto as the canine continued to lick at his face without pause.

"Well, looks like someone finally showed up. About ten minutes late too." Announced Jiraiya as he stared at the scene in front of him in amusement. "I really hope you're not picking up on Kakashi's bad habits Naruto, it really doesn't suit you."

"Shut up and help me." Growled out Naruto as he glared heatedly at the older man who was still smirking at him in amusement.

The man's grin never left his face as he easily pried the dog off his godson, then extending a hand to help the boy back to his feet. Naruto was more than happy to accept the help, and was heaved back onto his feet. After releasing his hold on the man's hand, he quickly dusted off all the dirt and stray pebbles that might have still been on him before turning his attention towards the dog.

"What are you doing here anyway?" asked the blonde as he crouched down to scratch the dog's ears. The dog's reaction to this was a soft whine as it pressed its head against the boy's hand, implying him to keep doing what he was doing.

"She will be accompanying us on this mission." Answered Jiraiya with a devilish smirk. "Along with a few others."

"Is it Hana-chan's other two dog's as well?"

"Yeah right!" Snorted a familiar voice from behind him. "Like I would let my dog's go on a mission without me."

Turning around, he was greeted by none other than InuzukaHana, who was currently leaning on the side of building about a few feet away. The young woman was currently smirking at the blond while giving him a small wave while her other two dog's stood on each side of her, both of which were staring at him happily while their tails wagged in excitement.

Naruto, despite feeling glad that he was going on his first mission with the said girl, couldn't help but feel slightly suspicious. He knew of Jiraiya's perverted tendencies, as it was very difficult not to know of them, and part of him thought that the old pervert might have planned this. He wouldn't put it passed him to try and do something like this, after-all he was the author of the smutty book that Kakashi was always reading.

Turning his attention towards the Toad Sannin, he gave the man a look that was laced with suspicion. If Jiraiya noticed this, which he did, he showed no signs of intending anything in particular. After several seconds of staring, Naruto merely shrugged it off and turned his attention towards Hana and her dog's as they made their way towards the two of them. Had he kept his gaze on the man a moment longer, he would have seen Jiraiya wipe the sweat off his brow for almost being discovered.

'Leave it to that kid to almost ruin my chance of great research.' Thought the man with a frown before clearing his throat to gain both of their attention.

"Alright, not that we have all gathered here, it is time for the briefing of this mission." Began the man in a dead serious tone in his voice, which made both Hana and Narutopay very close attention to what he had to say. "We are to locate and attempt to retrieve the next suitable candidate for the position of Godaime Hokage. Our main objective is to gather as much information to her exact whereabouts and to convince her to return her to the village."

"Who is the target Jiraiya-sama?" asked Hana curiously.

"Our target is none other than my former teammate, Senju Tsunade, the Slug Sannin. Reports state that she had been located somewhere in Fire Country. Her exact whereabouts are unknown at the present time, and so our primary objective is to locate her as soon as possible."

"Um, where was she seen last?" Questioned Naruto.

"Supposedly, our target was last seen in Otafuku Gai, which will be our first destination of our search. I havea feeling that we will not find her there, but I can assume that someone can give us some information of her whereabouts."

"And if not?"

"We will have to make do with what information we have. If we don't find any leads as to her current or resent location then I will inform you of our next destination."

"So, why is Hana-chan coming?" Asked the boy, not noticing the glare that the Inuzuka was giving him. "I mean, I can assume that she is coming for her tracking abilities but I have the same abilities as she does. Wouldn't her talents be needed elsewhere instead of with someone who has the same abilities as her?"

"Are you insinuating something brat?" Growled out the woman as her eyebrow began to twitch in anger.

Naruto, knowing full well what the wrath of a woman was like, began to laugh sheepishly while rubbing the back of his neck. This did nothing but full Hana's anger, as he still had yet to respond to her question. Though, it appeared that Kami was smiling at him at the moment, as Jiraiya decided to speak before the girl could lash out at the blond.

"Actually, her skills are perfect for this mission Naruto. True, I have been informed ahead of time about your own skills, yet she has had more experience since she had been on these missions more than you have. Plus, her and her dog's make it easier for her to comb the area for our target's scent than just myself and you. Not only that, but you will not be aiding me and Hana-san on this search."

"What?"

"I cannot say now exactly what you will be doing on this search, but rest assured that once we arrive in Otafuku Gai, you will receive your instructions. I can promise you that you will not be disappointed."

Naruto could only sigh as his shoulder's sagged at the thought of not actually participating in this mission. He knew damn well that his senses were far superior in comparison to Hana's, but Jiraiya did prove a point. Unlike Hana, his senses did not rely on just scent, but to all his senses. The problem was, he had never had to search for people he had never met, which was why it was so hard for him to find Yugito during the exam. Sure, he taken in her scent, but if he were to try to search for it he doubted he would find it due to all the other scents that lingered throughout the air.

Taking a glance over at Hana, he could see the smug look she had on her face as she glanced back at him. Huffing, Naruto crossed his arms and turned his back on the girl, which earned a snicker from her while the dog nearest him gave a soft whine before pressing its head against his side.

"So, do you have something I can use to track her scent with?" asked Hana while still smirking triumphantly in Naruto direction.

Jiraiya didn't respond, instead he simply pulled out a small scroll, from where neither Naruto or Hana were sure, before unraveling it along the ground and forming a seal. A puff of white smoke later, the cloud dispersed to reveal something that made Naruto burst out laughing and Hana to blush deeply while attempting to suppress the erg to beat Jiraiya senseless.

"I had taken this last time I have encountered Tsunade after Kyuubi's attack. I figured that keeping this would be the best way to locate her should there come a time when we are in need of her assistance." Stated Jiraiya with a grin.

"J-J-Jiraiya-sama could you have taken something else besides fucking underwear!" Screamed Hana as she stared down at the lacy dark blue garment that lay in the center of the small storage scroll.

Naruto, throughout this whole interaction, was on the ground gripping his sides as continued to laugh hysterically at Hana's rather humiliating predicament. Incidentally, he was now feeling very grateful that he wasn't taking part in this search, as now he had the perfect blackmail material for future reference should there come a time for it.

* * *

Well, here it is, and sorry for it being a filler. Though, I hope the comedy in it will make up for it. Anyways, since I took out the JC last chapter, I'm making this one a little extra long just for you guys, so no complaining! And now, its time for the JINCHUURIKI CHATS!

Me: (Giggles while sitting on couch with a red book titled "Icha Icha: Birthday Sex)

Yugito: (Walks in room and sees me reading the book) SF! What the hell do you think your doing!

Me: (Flips page and giggles) Reading Icha Icha.

Killer Bee: (Heads towards the door) Aw shit, she's gonna to get all pissed and-

Yugito: (Appears beside me and starts reading over my shoulder) Can I barrow that?

Me: (Hands her a spare copy) Knock yourself out.

Killer Bee: (Sweatdrops) False alarm.

Gaara: (Enters room to see both SF and Yugito reading Icha Icha while giggling simultaneously) So, you've finally drugged the pancakes?

PM: (Appears from behind the couch) Naw, I spiked the syrup.

Killer Bee: (Pauses) What where you doing behind the couch? (Raises eyebrow)

PM: Playing Hatsune Miku, hate how I finished the song and it says I failed (throws PSP) stupid Japanese rhythm games!!!

Me: (Still giggling) Yeah, PatMan loses a lot of PSP's that way. (Flips page and giggles louder) Whoo, that's kinky.

Naruto: (Enters room) Hey everybod- (Stops and sees what both SF and Yugito are reading) OH SWEET JESUS!

Me: (Looks up from book) Someone call?

Naruto: (Point's accusingly at SF) Y-You sick bastard! I had finally forgotten all about that book and now I'm reliving it all over again!

Me: (Shrugs and goes back to reading) Not my problem. (Flips page before stuffing tissue's in nose) Ok, now _that's_ hot.

Naruto: (Growls as ghost blue flames appear around him) I'm going to burn that book until theirs nothing left but ashes!

Me: (Eyes widen and turns to PM) PatMan, do something!

PM: (Smirks and pulls out a small handgun from pocket) I've been waiting for this!

Me: (Raises eyebrow) Hey, isn't that an Evoker? (Eyes widen) Oh shit! (Dives behind couch)

PM: (Points evoker at foot cause he doesn't approve of simulated suicide) Mara... (Giant penis monster on wheels is conjured)

Yugito: What the hell is that thing!?

Killer Bee: I think I peed a little.

Gaara: I've killed a lot of people and that will haunt my dreams for the next month.

Naruto: Why does it have wheels!?

PM: Terrifying isn't it, that thing is 90% of the reason persona 3 and 4 are rated "M". Oh and it has wheels to chase its prey.

Yugito: (Turns to Killer Bee, Gaara, and Naruto) What do you think he means by prey? (See's Naruto, Gaara, and Killer Bee's outlines)

Me: (Mutters from behind couch) Don't let him notice me, don't let him notice me, don't let him notice me.

PM: He noticed you.

Me: (Jumps out from behind couch and starts running) FUCK!

PM: (Turns and faces crowd of disturbed reviewers) R&R or Mara will come to get you. And don't think he can't catch you, cause he has wheels and he will. Also, for references, please check out SF's profile for an image of what this....monstrosity looks like.

Yugito:(Starts banging on closet door) YOU COWARDS! LET ME IN!

Me, Naruto, Killer Bee, and Gaara: HELL NO!


	27. The Search Begins

Yo people! Yeah, its been a while since I've updated but, meh, life sucks. Work is killing me and its left me very little time to actually sit down and write. Don't worry though, I'm not going to stop writing this story until is finished. I have a lot of plans for this one, and I'm going to see them through all the way. Anyways, this chapter hasn't been betaed yet so plase, no flames about grammer and such. Also, some things will be the same as Cannon in this, but I'm going to try and add a number of things that will, hopefully, make it different. One of those changes will be near the end of the chapter. (Gasp) Slight spoiler! Got to end this quickly! Well, enough of me talking, lets get this started!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_Jutsu

**"Speaking"**Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'**Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Naruto, being a Genin, never really had the opportunity to leave the village very often. In fact, since the mission in wave, he had never been able to step foot outside the village. So, as the three, not counting Hana's dogs, set out for Otafuku Gai Naruto realized something that he hadn't really noticed until the past day and a half that they had been traveling. He found that he was rather fond of travel, seeing as how is was a very new experience to him.

He now understood why Inuyasha never liked to stay in one place during the time's he visited his mind. The ability to roam around, camp up for the night, sit next to a fire, make meals during the night was a rather different, but welcome, change. Though, he knew in the future that times like these were going to be scarce, as missions where you were deep within enemy territory left you too worried about being discovered than to have a good time. Still, he did enjoy the night out in the wilderness and feeling the gentle breeze sweep through the area at night.

However, there were a few minor cases that made it difficult to enjoy such things. One of which was the fact that he had forgotten one thing while he had been packing which happened to be his tent. Problem was, he could have sworn he had brought it with him, and it wasn't like him to forget things such as that.

When he had asked if he could share with Jiraiya had informed him that his was too small for the two of them to share, which was true, and suggested he ask to share with Hana. Her answer was clear and firm after hearing Jiraiya suggestion.

"Hell no."

This resulted in Naruto being forced to sleep on the damn ground with only his sleeping bag and a mouth full of curses for being the odd man out. Though, he didn't complain too much as one of Hana's dog's decided to keep him company and slept beside him.

On a further note, Hana had finally told him each of their names, after being rather annoyed at Naruto for referring to them as 'Hana-chan's Dogs'. The one that had always tackled him to the ground was named Fujino. The other two's names were Setsuna and Akane, which were obviously much more reserved than Fujino. Still, even by knowing their names, he often times got the three of them confused, which was understandable since they all looked rather similar. All in all, he found that all three of them were rather nice company to have and was somewhat envious that he didn't have such a companion with him.

Though, at the current time, he did find it rather annoying how Fujino would almost never leave his side. He would even jump into the tree's and she would still follow behind him. And, for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why she was so attracted to him. Maybe it was because of Taishou, or maybe the dog just really liked to be around him. Either way, he found it annoying, as he couldn't even make a step without the dog trying to garter his attention, whether it is by jumping in front of him as he walked, or pressing her head against his hand.

"Hana-chan." Said the blonde suddenly with a hint of annoyance in his tone. "Can you _please_ control your dog?

The said woman merely glanced back at him, then at her canine companion before smirking and turning her attention to the front. "Naw, she's fine. Just bare with it until we get to Otafuku."

The blond glared at the girl's back while, unknowest to him, his eyebrow began to twitch. "Your just pissed because you have to sniff out this Tsunade lady using her under-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll neuter you." Growled out the young woman while sending a decent wave of killing intent at him.

With that statement, Naruto wisely shut up and continued his walking while, every once in a while, giving the dog next to him a few scratches on the ear. After several moments of silence, Naruto decided to break it and thus, sped up until he was walking beside Jiraiya, who had taken a glance at the boy for his sudden appearance.

"Hey, Jiraiya-san, tell us something about this lady. I mean, you said that she was your former teammate, so what was she like, what did she do, and why is she being selected as the next Hokage?"

Upon hearing those questions, Jiraiya struck a thinking pose while both Naruto and Hana were waiting intently on what the man had to say. For Hana, she was dying to know some facts about the legendary kunoichi. Of course, she knew of her status as the best medic-nin in history, after all it was a very hard not to since most kunoichi either wanted to be like her, or at least become as great as her someday.

"Well, she's got one hell of a temper, packs one hell of a punch, and is a genus when it comes down to her medical theories. Not many in the world have been able to top some of the things that she has done during the Third Secret Ninja War, and the few that have are not even close to the level of skill she has. As for why she is being made Hokage, well, I think she can make a great leader as she is the granddaughter of Shodai Hokage and that her combat experience is unrivaled by many among the veterans in the Third Shinobi War."

Both Naruto and Hana could only stare at the man in awe as he explained to them about their target. Though, both Naruto and Hana had known bits and pieces of the things that the man had stated, they had no idea that she was the granddaughter to the Shodai. And yet, even as these new insights came to mind, Jiraiya still looked as if he had something more to say.

"But, there is one interesting fact about her that everyone knows. As you can you know, I'm known worldwide as not only the Toad Sannin but the author of the famous Icha Icha series, she is known as the Slug Sannin, and also known by something else. Something she is rather bad at."

"And what's that?" asked Hana with a raised eyebrow.

"Simple, she has a rather bad hobby of gambling, and she is without a doubt the worst gambler in the world. She has absolutely no luck in her being and thus, had given her another name known as 'The Legendary Sucker'."

Naruto stared at the man for a good few moments before suddenly bursting out laughing while shaking his head.

"Legendary Sucker." Snickered the boy for a few more moments before suddenly stopping in place with his eyes widened and his mouth agape.

Jiraiya, who had clearly heard what the boy's remark, couldn't help but grin at the boy's reaction. In all honesty, he had expected this reaction as he had done the same thing. Though, his reaction was more on the lines of laughing his ass off and teasing her about once he saw her again. It was during that same day, he had been on the receiving end of her fist which had almost knocked his head clean off his shoulders. Hana, who had also heard this, glared heatedly at the blond for such a rather…. perverse comment. Though, inwardly, she was also snickering at the pun as it did seem rather humorous, even if it was somewhat dirty.

A few moments of silence on Naruto's part, he had finally managed to snap out of his trance before sending a glare at the white haired man. "I need to quit hanging around you so much, you're starting to screw with my head."

"Admit it, you like it." Replied the man with a shrug while still grinning perversely. "Besides, I have that effect on people."

"Whatever you say….Ero-Sennin."

Now it was Jiraiya's turn to stop dead in his tracks, only instead of staring blankly out into the distance, his head whirled around and glared heatedly at the blond. Hana, this time, actually burst out laughing as Naruto's new nickname for the man as it did seem rather appropriate.

"What did you call me?" asked the man while still glaring at the now snickering blond.

"Hm, I don't remember." Replied the blond in while faking a thinking pose before turning his attention towards Hana. "Do you?"

Deciding to play along with Naruto's little game Hana also stuck a thinking pose. "Hm, I think it was….wait….no that wasn't it….huh it escapes me."

"That's what I thought." Grumbled the Sannin before turning his attention towards the road.

"ERO-SENNIN!" Yelled both Hana and Naruto at the same time at the top of their lungs. This earned each of them a rather, chilling glare from Jiraiya, which they didn't notice since both were currently laughing at the man's expense.

Huffing, and grumbling about brats with no respect for their elders, Jiraiya peered out into the distance to see if the village was in sight yet. He was glad to note that it was, and it was about three or four miles away from their current location.

'The sooner we get there, the sooner I can ditch these two and get some work done.' Thought the man as a small grin appeared on his face before it vanished as he turn his attention back on his two traveling partners.

"Good news, we're almost there."

Even though they heard this announcement, both Hana and Naruto had yet to cease their laughter. Thought, inwardly, Naruto already knew what was going through the toad Sannin's head. It wasn't that hard to figure out, one just had to come across him a few times until it was made obvious as to what his thought pattern was. Even though they were on a mission, it still bugged him that the man would simply drop everything just to peep on women.

But, never the less, he had to endure it the best he could. Even if he wasn't going to be actively searching for this lady during the mission, he was at least going to be doing something with his time. Therefore, he really didn't consider it too much of an annoyance. He did doubt that Hana was going to like it once she found out about Jiraiya's little peeping moments; but he figured she would do the same thing as him.

"If you too are quite finished with your little moment." Growled out Jiraiya whom, as both Hana and Naruto realized, was still walking and was already a few feet away from them. "I'd like to get there before too long so hurry it up."

Taking a quick glance at each other, both just shrugged before catching up with the man as they made their way towards the first destination in the search for Tsunade.

**Konoha Hospital**

"How long will I be stuck in this damn place." Growled Hitoyama as he lay in an upright position on his hospital bed.

"Not much longer, Raikage-sama." Replied one of his guards as she stood by his side. "The doctor had informed me that you will be able to leave in the next couple of days.

This information did little to calm the man down, as he merely growled louder before turning his heated gaze at the ceiling. Besides his hatred of feeling helpless, he also had an even stronger hatred to hospitals. Reason why is because he was, despite being the Raikage, unable to do anything to pass the time. He couldn't lift his weights, he couldn't leave to train, hell he wasn't even allowed to get of bed unless it was to piss! Hence why, yet again, he wished he was a Jinchuuriki himself; more so for the healing factor than anything else. It was also one of the things that his brother always mocked him with every time he had to seek medical care.

Pushing that aside, the dark skinned Kage turned his head back to where he was facing his guard once more before asking. "Have you sent the message to Kumo yet?"

The woman, who had pale blond hair cut just above her should and dressed in standard Jounin attire, nodded in reply. "The messenger hawk should be in Kumo by now. We are waiting for its return to receive the response."

Hitoyama let out a sigh as he turned his gaze, once again, back onto the ceiling above him. "Good, you are dismissed Samui."

The woman, now known as Samui, bowed respectively to her leader before turning on heel and exiting the room. Once the door was shut behind her, she took a glance around the hallway. She raised an eyebrow at the sight of a familiar blond kunoichi who was currently leaning on the railing on the top of the staircase with her back facing towards her.

Walking up to the girl, she noticed that the Yugito's gaze was unmoving and her eyes seemed to be glazed over. The girl was either deep in thought about something or she was having a conversation with her tenant. If she had to guess, it was the former as she usually displayed a series of emotions on her face whenever she communicated with Nibi. And it was pretty obvious that she wasn't doing such things at the current time.

So, decided to see what the girl had on her mind, the Samui cleared her throat, loud enough for the girl to hear. This caused the said girl to jump slightly at the sudden sound which had broken her from her thoughts.

"Are you alright Yugito?" asked the woman with a raised eyebrow.

Yugito, glanced over at the older woman for a moment before letting out a sigh and turning her gaze back to where it once was. "Yeah, I'm fine."

In all actuality, she was far from it. Ever since she had found out about Naruto's disappearance, her thoughts have always come back to his slumbering face. She was just as worried about him as most others who found out about his disappearance were. That is, until he just as suddenly reappeared at the hospital carrying an injured woman. Then, before she could even find or greet him, he left. From what she was told, which happened to be a doctor who just so happened to be in the area, that the boy had went out on a mission with the Toad Sannin Jiraiya.

Needless to say, she wasn't happy to hear this information. It made her feel….hurt to have the boy just up and leave again without even saying goodbye. To her, this would more than likely be the last time the two see each other in months, years even. Thus leaving her in the state that she was currently in; and no matter what she was trying to do during the day, her thoughts would always linger back towards the boy.

With a sigh, the girl's shoulders sagged and her gaze fell down to the multiple flights of stairs.

This action caused Samui's confusion to rise slightly. It was rather rare for the girl to act the way she was now. Most of the time, she was aloof and calm, but if something was indeed bothering her, she wouldn't openly show it. This time however, she wasn't even bothering to hide it, so this lead Samui to believe that something was indeed very wron-

"She's just thinking of some blond guy and I know why!" Replied a voice that made both women cringe ever slightly, out of both surprise and displeasure.

Both whirled around to see none other than Kirabi, who was currently leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed over his chest and grinning knowingly. Samui just raised an eyebrow at the man's rather…awkward accusation. Who was this 'blond guy' that he mentioned and why would he know about it? Or, better yet, _how_ would he know about it. It wasn't a secret to anyone in Kumo that Yugito kept to herself when not on missions. That's not to say that she didn't have any friends, it was just that the younger Jinchuuriki tended to enjoy her time in solitude.

Yugito's thoughts were on the same lines as Samui's. How did the rapping idiot know what was going through her head? Even more so, why did he openly announce it to the world? Was it that obvious, or was he just having another one of his bad rapping moments and chose something out of the blue. She doubted the latter but, with Kirabi at least, it was indeed very possible as he had done so many times in the past.

"What are you blabbering about now Kirabi?"asked Samui while rubbing the bridge of her nose, knowing full well what was about to occur in the next few seconds.

"I've seen through her deception and she seeks one's affection. Make no mistake 'cause she's got the hots for fishcake." Replied the man before pulling out his notepad and began scribbling down his latest rhyme.

Samui only blinked in confusion while Yugito's face turned a deep shade of red. Whether it was out of embarrassment or out of anger, no one would know, with the exception of herself and Nibi, who was laughing hysterically at the man's statement.

'**Hit it right on the bull's-eye.' **Chimed Nibi as the girl's face turned an even deeper shade of red than before.

"Fishcake?" Asked Samui, now more confused than ever until realization finally dawned on her. "You mean Naruto, as in Uzumaki Naruto?"

"Yeah, that's him." Replied the man while not once looking up from his notepad. "I kinda want to fight him."

Samui couldn't help but smirk slightly at this new information. Someone crushing on Yugito was rather common in Kumo. The the girl was considered one of the best Genins that the village had to offer, even without using her Biju's chakra. The fact that she was very attractive was also a plus on her . However, having the said girl crushing on someone else was downright unheard of. Sure, she would find a guy she was interested with and go on a few dates with, but those relationships never lasted long. Her longest 'boyfriend', so to speak, lasted for two months, before she finally had enough and dumped the sap. But being interested in someone and actually seeking one's affection were two different things entirely. So, needless to say, for Nii Yugito, Jinchuuriki of Nibi no Neko, to develop an actual crush on someone was something that would bring up a lot of gossip back in Kumo.

She honestly didn't know what would the better gossip maternal though. Yugito having a crush or that the person she was supposedly crushing on was the proclaimed 'Hero of Konoha' Uzumaki Naruto. Either way she did really care, as she was just going to sit back and watch the fireworks as they went off.

With the brief smile still on her face, Samui turned to face the young kunoichi only for her smile to wiped off her face and to take a few steps away from her once she saw the small jolts of electricity flickering around her fists. Yugito's face was now completely crimson, she could see a few veins throbbing on her forehead and instantly knew that she was going snap at any second. The pale blond woman figured that there were two ways that this was going to end. Either Yugito would beat the man to an inch of his life or she would use a nasty Raiton technique on him which would effortlessly cause a power outage in the building and turn Kirabi into dust then toss him in the wind.

Both of those endings were not going to be in man's favor. So Samui, being the smart one, chose not to stick around to see either of them. With a quick seal, she vanished in a cloud of smoke, leaving the two Kumo Jinchuuriki to themselves.

Glancing up from his notepad, Kirabi finally noticed the state of anger in which Yugito was in along with the fact that he was now all alone with her. Despite the killing intent being sent at him, he calmly closed his notepad; put it back in its protective pocket and dropped down to his knees while slapping his hands together in front of him.

"Mercy?" squeaked the man pitifully.

The sound of cracking knuckles indicated that there was going to be no such thing today. And, throughout the hospital, people could hear the echo of a female shouting just one thing:

"KI-RA-BI!"

**Otafuku Gai **

Naruto, along with Hana, glared heatedly at the Toad sage who was currently giggling madly as he stared up at the many bars and other attractions in the area. They had just arrived to the village only ten minutes ago and Jiraiya's face had almost immediately morphed into a grin with a lecherous look in his now glazed eyes. Multiple signs for bars and _other_, more mature, attractions were scattered all around the road in which they were standing in the middle of.

Naruto had to resist the erg to smack himself in the forehead for being anywhere near this man. Even though he expected this kind of situation would occur at least at some point in this trip, it was still quite an eyesore to witness. Hell, his own reputation was going down the drain for just standing next to him. So in hopes of knocking him out of his stupor, literally, the blonde removed his katana from his obi before slamming his sword, still sheathed mind you, on top of the man's head.

Both himself and Hana were surprised to note that, despite the now large lump on the man's head, his expression never changed. In fact, it seemed as though he didn't even feel the pain that had been inflicted onto him, as the man's expression never changed in the slightest. Making a mental note to try again later, Naruto let out a sigh as he placed his sword back into place before stepping further into the city.

"Come on Hana-chan," Said Naruto while stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Ero-Sennin will join the living in four maybe five minutes tops."

Upon hearing that, Hana resisted the erg to laugh at the man's newest title. Though, she didn't understand why he would get pissed off about it since it obviously true. Part of her believed it was just for his prides sake, or maybe it to protect his image. Either way, he shouldn't have any right to complain since he openly displays his perverted nature. So, instead of laughing, she was reduced to snickering a bit while fallowing behind the blond as he continued further into the village.

Fortunately, Naruto's comment had finally registered in Jiraiya's ears, which had been the trigger to breaking him out of his rather…enjoyable thoughts.

"Hey, you two!" Shouted out the man, which caused both Hana and Naruto to turn and face him. "You two go have some fun while we're here. I'll book us at a hotel and meet up with you two later."

"I thought this was a mission Jiraiya-_sama_, not a vacation." Stated Hana as she stared disapprovingly at the famous shinobi.

"Hey, why miss a good opportunity to have some fun while we're here. Besides, as I said before, I highly doubt that she's even here at all. Might as well enjoy ourselves for a little bit before we get down to business."

"You sure you're not going to forget about the mission Ero-Sennin." Asked the blonde with a smirk, knowing that his nickname for the man irritated the crap out of him.

"Yeah, yeah, I won't forget now go have some fun and STOP CALLING ME THAT!"

The boy only chucked before turning around and walking off. Hana only sighed before following behind the blonde while her dog's trailed behind her. Once the two were out of Jiraiya's sight, the man's once angered face was replaced by a look of pure seriousness as he turned and walked down the alleyway beside the bar. Glancing back to make sure no one was following him, he continued down the alleyway until he was direction behind the store before letting out a sigh.

"You can come out now."

For a moment, nothing seemed to happen while the man simply stood next to the dumpster behind the store. However, a few seconds later, the very dumpster that he was standing next to seemed to wither away, revealing a man in a simple white shirt and blue pants. He was currently on his right knee with his head bowed, his brown hair falling over his face keeping it from view.

"Jiraiya-sama." Greeted the man while not once glancing up from his position.

"Tai." Replied the sage, his tone remaining strictly businesslike. "What do you have to report?"

"We have confirmed the identity of the new organization in which had appeared recently. They are known as Akatsuki, consisted of high level missing ninja's from various countries. We have also confirmed that Uchiha Itachi is among them."

"Any leads as to who the other members are?"

"Negative." Replied the man gravely. "Some of our spies were discovered before the information could get back to us. It seems that the organization is rather cleaver in keeping the identities of their members classified."

"I assume that their intentions are also unknown as well?"

"Affirmative, Jiraiya-sama."

"What about their base of operation?"

"Also unknown at the present time, though we are curtain that it's somewhere between the Earth, Wind, and Fire countries."

"So our best assumption as to their location is Kusa, Ame, or Bird County."

"Precisely, however information is beginning to grow scarce as security has increased greatly since the Suna/Oto invasion. Since then, all the villages have been increasing their patrols and surveillance. In short, Jiraiya-sama, they are keeping a tight lid over everything and making it very difficult for any useful information from being leaked out."

'Shit' Thought Jiraiya while rubbing the bridge of his nose in annoyance. Having his spies discovered made things more complicated than they originally were. Having all the villages remaining tight lipped about anything of importance made things downright horrible. 'Things are just getting from bad to worse.'

"Do you have anything else that might be interesting or of use to report?"

Despite the fact that his face was covered from view, he could tell that the man was currently frowning.

"Actually, there is something that has come to my personal attention. The bingo book has been updated recently and has been distributed among the Jounin's and Anbu of the villages."

This made Jiraiya raise an eyebrow ever slightly. Bingo books usually never updated twice in one year, and it was currently in the middle of September. Updates were usually done at the beginning or the end of each year, but never in-between. He noticed that Tai was holding a small book in his hands and was gesturing him to take it.

Grasping the book, he opened it up and began flipping through pages. Some were old, such as Orochimaru and Itachi, while many other new ones were added. Most of which D and C ranks though, so he paid little mind to them. After scanning the latest page, he flipped over to the next one only to have his grip loosen enough to almost drop the book entirely. What he found, made him stop and stare with his eyes widened and gaping in shock, before recomposing himself and turning his attention back on the man who was still crouched over.

"What village was this one for?" asked the man hastily, forgoing the calm attitude he had sustained the entire time.

"Iwa, Jiraiya-sama."

The sage could only stare at him for a moment before turning his attention back on the picture of the page. "You are dismissed. Contact me should anything new comes to light."

With a nod, the man formed a single seal before vanishing in a plum of white smoke, leaving Jiraiya alone in the back-alley. Yet, even as the man left, Jiraiya's eyes never once left the picture on the page of the book that was still held in his hand. Then, with a small chuckle, he snapped the book shut and tucked it away in his pocket before heading out of the alley and into the bar.

"Hey! Someone get me a bottle of sake and keep it comin'!"

**With Naruto and Hana**

"You think it's a good idea to trust him with getting us a hotel?" asked Hana with a raised eyebrow as the blond continued strolling down the road while avoiding most of the crowd in the streets. "I mean, he doesn't seem all that dependable at the moment."

"Trust me, he might not seem like a dependable person. But, when it comes down to it, he pulls through." Replied the blond with a small smile as he walked.

"Still, he really isn't what I expected him to be."

The blond, merely nodded his head in agreement at that. For he too had the same thought in mind as her when he first met the man. Then again, the many other times that Jiraiya had made an appearance he had been a completely different person hence why he wasn't so annoyed with his perverted actions. As he had seen the serious and comforting side of the man which he had found helpful whenever he was troubled with thoughts. Despite his faults, the man did truly deserve the right to be called a Sannin, not just for his skills as a ninja, but for his wisdom that he carried with him, even if he hardly shows it.

Suddenly, the sound of a stomach growling rang through his ears. Glancing back at Hana, who was currently laughing sheepishly while rubbing her stomach, he gave a slight snicker before searching around for the nearest food stall.

"You like fried squid?" asked Naruto after seeing the said stall nearby.

"Never tried it, so why not." Replied the woman with a shrug before walking over towards it with Naruto not far behind her.

A few moments later, the two were both enjoying their small, but delicious, meal while sitting on a bench just outside one of the many hotels around. Taking another bite out of his snack, Naruto took this moment to see what else there was for them to do. He was disappointed to find that, besides a few women of various ages winking at him, nothing of real interest was remotely visible. Other than a few stalls scattered along the road, there was nothing else that Hana and himself could do to entertain themselves.

In most cases when it involved boredom, Naruto spent that time training. Seeing as how there was so much that he could still work and improve upon, it was rather hard for him to run out of things to do. However, due to the fact that Jiraiya had insisted on himself and Hana to enjoy themselves, he found that task in itself rather boring. Besides a few stalls by the streets, which were mostly food stands, everything else was, in his book, off limits.

Before Naruto could further ponder on what else he could do to pass the day by, he felt something smacking him in the back of the head, followed by freezing cold water drenching his head and shoulders. The boy blinked a few times in surprise before growling in annoyance not long after realizing what had hit him. When the boy turned around to find the perpetrator, he found it to be someone he didn't expect to do such a rather…childish prank. What he found, was a man in with a strange orange mask with only one eyehole staring back at him on the balcony on the second story of the hotel behind him, garbed in an all black attire.

The said man was currently on the leaning over on the railing as he laughed at the boy's expense. Upon hearing another growl, he finally ceased his laughing and stared straight back at the boy, who was now glaring heatedly at him.

"What?" asked the man curiously. "It wasn't me; I just thought it was funny that someone got away with it."

"I call bullshit." Replied Naruto as he stood up from his now drenched seat on the bench.

"Oh, I love that game! You wanna play a round or two? I can tell you right now, I got a mean poker face!"

Both Hana and Naruto sweat dropped at the man's rather bizarre attitude as he continued to stare down at the two of them while holding a stack of cards in his right hand. Where the stack of cards had suddenly appeared from, neither of the two could comprehend.

"Come on Naruto," Said Hana after a few moments of awkward silence. "Let find Jiraiya and get ourselves booked into a hotel."

Naruto, though hearing the woman's words, didn't respond. Instead, he continued to gaze at the man, who had not yet moved since he had thrown the water balloon. He couldn't explain it, but something about this man seemed….off. It wasn't easy for someone to sneak up on him unless he was deep in concentration or thought. Yet, he had been caught completely off guard by the man's little stunt. If it had been a weapon instead of a water balloon, he would surely be dead and with his face in the dirt.

He didn't like that feeling, and he surely didn't like the fact that this man had done such a thing.

"Naruto!"

"Huh?" Replied boy, finally shifting his gaze away from the man and turning his head towards the Inuzuka.

"I said lets go ahead and find Jiraiya."

"Oh, alright."

Huffing in annoyance, the woman turned on heel and started walking down the road where Jiraiya was more than likely still located. Naruto soon followed not far behind her with Fujino still walking beside him. Yet, with each passing step, the blonde still felt as though the man was watching him. Taking one last glance back at the man, his eyes widened briefly when he found that he was no longer there. Taking a few whiffs of air, his eye brow rose when the man's scent was no longer there either.

'Where the hell did he go?' thought the blonde to himself before turning his attention back towards Hana as he continued to follow behind her. 'His scent just disappeared, like he was never even there.'

Now there was no doubt in his mind, that something wasn't right about the stranger. Not even the most skilled shinobi could utterly disappear without leaving a single trace. You couldn't hide your scent, you could mask it, but it was impossible for it to completely disappear. Hence why, even as he walked down the road with countless people all around him, he felt on edge. If someone could all out vanish within the span of a few minutes, he could just as easily re-appear in the same amount of time.

Hence why, throughout the walk back towards Jiraiya's location, Naruto had only one thought lingering in his mind.

'Who was that guy?'

* * *

Well, here it is. Hope you enjoyed it. Now, a few things I want to say before we cut into the Jinchuuriki Chat. Firstly, I have a Forum up if anyone wants to take a look. I mostly did it out of boredom, but it might go somewhere if you guys decide to check it out. The links on my profile if you wish to join. And secondly, updates might be a bit slow for a while. I'll try to update as soon as I can but you guys need to know that I'm rather busy and to be patent. Well, aside from all that, thanks for reading and sorry for the short chapter, I couldn't think of much to do with this first part of the Tsunade Arc. And now, its time for the Jinchuuriki Chats Everyone!

Naruto: (Shivers at the glare Yugito was directing at every male in the room) She's pissed.

Me: (Sweatdrops) Yeah....I still don't regret not letting her in. God knows how bad things could have gotten.

Gaara: (Shivers) I'm still....having nightmares.

Killer Bee: (Starts making pancakes) As long as I have pancake mix, I'll be cool.

PM: I still don't see what the problem is....I'd think she would have enjoyed it.

(Everyone stares back at him with wide eyes/glares)

Yugito: (Eyebrow twitches) Oh, I get what your saying.

PM: (Raises eyebrow) What?

Yugito: (Cracks knuckles) Your saying, "Oh Yugito, would you _please_ beat the shit out of me!"

PM: (Smirks and pulls out Evoker and points it at his foot.) Bring it.

(Me, Naruto, Gaara, and Killer Bee are already backing away towards the same closet as before.)

Yugito: (Takes a step back) You wouldn't!

PM: (Smirks and pulls trigger and fires into his foot.)

Me: (Pokes head out from behind the door.) Huh, I knew that sounded like a real....gun....firing.

(PM falls to the ground while gripping his foot in pain.)

PM: GET THE PEPTO BISMOL!

Gaara: You know that's for stomach aches....right?

PM: I LIKE THE TASTE!

Killer Bee: Get that man some pancakes, stat!

Yugito: (Grumbles) He doesn't deserve pancakes, give him English muffins!

PM: Ew, that's what British people eat.

Gaara: ..... (Turns to face worried reviewers) R&R. I'm not in the mood to threaten you so just do it. Also, please visit SF's Forum. The link is on his profile so you can't miss it.

Naruto: You know, you could put some ramen in the muffins. Then it would practically be an episode of Yakitate.

Me: (Sweatdrops) Naruto, no one understands that reference.

PM: (Groans weakly) I do.

Me: Exactly.


	28. The Blooming Flower and The Wanted Man

Hello all, me again! Miss me? Of course you have. Anyways, I'm somewhat excited to get this arc off the ground. It's getting there, but its moving kinda slowly in my opinion. But, aside from that, things are gradually progressing forward. I'm actually really siked about the next arc I have in mind. I just hope I can get their quickly without rushing through stuff. Well, that's enough of me rambling, let get on with story people!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_Jutsu

**"Speaking"**Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'**Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Three days. Three, boring and dull, days of wasted time. If there was one thing that the boy hated most, was wasting such time on something without any real excuse. He was the type that if he could get something done in a few minutes, he would just to have it over and done with. Though, he did have his times when he would put off certain things, but he would never put it off any longer than a day. Jiraiya, after staying in Otafuku Gai for two more days, had decided that it was time that the group set out. When Naruto had asked the man why they wasted such valuable time, and his answer had left him pissed to the highest degree.

"I had found out the day we arrived that she wasn't here." Were the man's words as they made their way down the road before shrugging. "I just wanted to kick back for a bit."

Needless to say, he hadn't spoken to the man since he had gotten that answer. And Jiraiya had finally gotten to experience what one of his punches felt like. He did however, find it amusing that the bruise on his cheek was still there even to this date and would see the sage every once and a while poke at it and wince ever slightly.

Hana though, was surprisingly calm about the whole thing. He expected her to react the same way he did, yet she didn't. How she could tolerate such a thing, he had no idea. Maybe she was just used to this kind of thing back at home, or maybe she was just restraining herself from acting out. He couldn't really blame her, as Jiraiya was a Sannin, and you don't really have any right to treat them like ordinary shinobi. They were on a rank of their own, and pissing even one of them off was a bad idea. Though, he guessed he was the only exception as he did it rather often and damned the consequences or the reactions he got from those who saw him do so.

Naruto let out a sigh as he glanced down the road with a bored look in his eyes. Otafuku Gai was just plain boring and he hadn't been able to train at all during this little trip. He needed to let out some steam, needed to grow stronger, and more importantly, needed to see what else he could learn from Taishou and Kyuu-

'Oh crap.' Thought the blonde as his shoulder's sagged and his head sunk just a bit. 'Kyuubi-chan's going to kill me.'

Now, due to the many events that had occurred after his week-long coma, he hadn't put much thought into visiting his three tenants. Even during his stay in Otafuku, the thought of visiting the three of them had flew right over his head. If he'd had thought about it, he probably have passed those useless days by in a flash. But, it wasn't that he somewhat forgotten about them that made him hesitant to go see them.

Kyuubi, was the main and only reason he hadn't entered his mind-scape. He knew damn well she was angry with him, and he couldn't blame her. He had treated her like a slave, an animal at worst. She didn't deserve that, not after all that she had given him since the two had met. She helped him grow, healed his wounds, taught him an amazing technique, and how did he repay her for it? He ordered her to grant him power, power that had nearly gotten him killed had Yugito not saved him. Sure, his actions were justified, at least to him, since if he hadn't made that command, he more than likely would have died at that very moment. Though, even with that knowledge, it still didn't make his actions right. If anything, he was just making up excuses to defend himself. Excuses in which, he knew deep down weren't truly legit.

All in all, he knew that eventually he would have no choice but to return to his mindscape, and when he did, he was going to have to deal with a very, _very _pissed off Biju.

"Hey," asked Hana from behind him, causing the boy to jump ever slightly out of surprise. "You ok?"

"Y-yeah, just deep in thought." Replied the boy with a grin while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

Hana merely raised an eyebrow in curiosity while a small smirk started growing on her face. "Must have been really important for you to zone out like that. Are you thinking about someone special you left back at home?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, you know who I'm talking about."

"No, I don't."

"That blonde haired girl from Kumo, Nii Yugito I think it was." Replied the girl while striking a thinking pose for a moment. "Come to think of it, you two seemed really close that day you came over the Inuzuka compound. That and she was wearing your cloak."

It didn't take long for Naruto's face to turn slightly red at the mention of that day. Or, more so, the day after in which he had almost gotten the beating of a life time had Haku and Zabuza not shown up to help him. Even after that morning Yugito had done everything in her power to avert her gaze elsewhere whilst they were training. It was only after the two had about a week and a half to train when she finally started acting normal again. He knew now, after that incident, that anything involving him and alcohol was bound to be a bad idea.

"Why was she wearing your cloak anyway?" asked the girl while still smirking at the boy. Mind you, she had no knowledge of his official girlfriend being Tenten. Though, with the way the two acted around each other, most did assume that the two blonde's were a couple.

"Oh well, uh, you see I let her barrow it for a while because, um."

"He had slashed the girl's shirt off and after that the two got busy in the woods." Answered Jiraiya with a small grin while memories of that day resurfaced. "I got some good research off of that little show."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" Shouted the two younger shinobi together before turning to face the other.

Before the blonde could even begin to explain the real story as to what happened, the Inuzuka had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt before shaking him back in forth while glaring heatedly at the boy in her clutches.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Your only, what, twelve years old and your already doing _that_? And to top it off, you actually did _that _in broad fucking daylight?!"

"What the hell are you talking about? Did _what_!?"

"Don't play dumb with me blondie!"

"I'm not playing dumb you stupid bitch!"

From the front, Jiraiya could only watch with a small frown as Hana and Naruto continued to argue back and forth with each other. Glancing around, he found Fujino, Setsuna, and Akane were all watching the whole event with, what he assumed were bored looks. To the three canines situations like these happen almost on a daily bases with Hana and Kiba. So, to them at least, this wasn't all that unusual so they just decided to sit back and wait until the two calmed down.

After another few minutes of arguing, Jiraiyadecided it was time to end the two's bickering. Not because of the mission mind you, more so because the two's constant yelling was starting to give him a headache. So, with speed that none in area could havefollowed, he appeared beside the two before grabbing each of them by their respective shirts and lifting the two in the air. The results were almost instant, as the moment the two realized what had happened, they both shared a glance at the Sannin, who was currently looking at them with an annoyed expression on his features.

"You two are acting more like children than shinobi." Stated the man as he set the two back onto the ground. "So shut up and come on, Crater city is only a few miles away from here."

With that said the man turned on heel and began walking ahead of the two. Surprisingly, both Akane and Setsuna had gotten up from their seated positions and were now following not far behind him. Fujino though, chose to stick next to Naruto once more, which made Naruto smirk a bit. Upon seeing the smirk, Hana let out a growl as her fist began to clinch.

"Keep smirking, and I'll be happy to whip it off your face pretty boy."

Naruto didn't even bother to suppress a snort at the comment. "I had to fight a giant Tanuki by myself; do you really think I'm afraid of a Chuunin?"

"I said that's enough you two!" Barked Jiraiya, who had once again stopped in his tracks, yet did not turn to face them. "This is your last warning."

Sharing a glance with each other, both gave one last glare at each other before grumbling out their responses.

"Yes, Jiraiya-sama."

"Got it Jiraiya-san."

Happy to note that the two had finally gotten the message, Jiraiya let out a sigh before moving once more. Maybe bringing up that day was a bad idea, since this whole situation was caused by his little comment. He just said it as a joke, but it seemed that the Inuzukawas rather quick to assume things. Or, more than likely, it was just things that involve Naruto at least. He knew that if this continued, should something happen, the two would have a hard time working together well as a team. Naruto was good, that was obvious, but the boy wasn't invincible. That was also an issue he needed to address. Ever since the fight with Gaara, Naruto seemed, to him at least, cockier than normal.

Jiraiya couldn't have that, Minato had done the same thing back in the day. Those were war times, and being cocky was a good way to get you killed. He couldn't afford Naruto to let his accomplishments, as great as they were, getting to his head.

'Great,' thought Jiraiya with a sigh as he took a glance back at the blonde who was staring down at Fujino. 'I got to deal with yet another cocky brat who thinks he's the shit….I'm getting too old for this crap.'

**Konoha: Training Ground 57**

At first glance, one would find that this particular training area was rather peaceful. Birds were chirping in the trees, squirrels were feeding on the many acorns that had fallen from the said trees. Hell, even the pesky cat, Tora, was sleeping soundly in one of the shrubs nearby. All in all, the area was a prefect picture of peace and tranquility.

That is, until a kunai sailed through the air and nearly struck one of squirrels had it not hit the acorn first. In that instant, every living thing in the area fled at the sight of danger which was now approaching. A few moments later, from the edge of the tree line, a bright pink blur shot out of one of the bushes before landing on the ground in a heap. The said blur was none other than Sakura, who was currently clutching her abdomen in pain whilst a familiar Anbu casually stepped into the clearing, wearing mask and all.

The said Anbu merely scuffed as she stared down at the young kunoichi before her while placing her hand on her right hip. As far as she was concerned, the girl was a big waste of time. Though, she had to admit, she was at least taking this far better than she had four days ago. Even if that wasn't saying much it was still an improvement, given that before she could hardly take any hit from her without feeling tremendous pain.

Currently, Sakura was a now back on her feet while panting heavily due to the Anbu's rather….exhausting training exercises. Her dress was now torn in multiple places and her face was littered with small cuts and minor bruises. Other than her shortness of breath, she was still able to continue with their training.

'More like beating if nothing else.' Thought the girl to herself while wiping the sweat off her brow.

After staring at her 'punching bag' for a few moments, the kunoichi let out a sigh before reaching into her pouch and pulling out a bottle of water and tossing it to her.

"Take a break for a few minutes, Kami knows you're going to need it." Was the woman's only statement before seating herself down on the ground while leaning against the base of a nearby tree.

Sakura, not one to turn up a chance to take it easy, hastily opened up the bottle before almost downing half of its contents in one gulp. With a sigh of contentment, she eased herself into a more comfortable position on the ground while placing the water next to her. Glancing back at the strange Anbu in front of her, she still wasn't sure exactly why the woman was doing this for her.

The first time she had met her was when she went to visit Naruto when he was in the hospital. The second time though, was when shortly after the said boy had left for his mission. Sakura had been in her backyard, practicing her tree walking exercise when the woman had suddenly appeared. The only thing the woman had said was to follow her and, given the fact that it was an Anbu giving her orders, she did so.

The moment the two had arrived at the training ground, the kunoichi had turned around and began her assault. Needless to say, the pink haired girl was completely blind sighted by this attack, which had resulted in the worst beating in her life. By the time the Anbu had ceased her actions, the girl laying in a heap on the ground with tears in her eyes.

Sakura still remembered her cold words that day as, even after the four days that had passed since then, it seemed to echo throughout her very soul as if it had said just two minutes ago.

"You're pathetic."

And with those two words she realized a very important fact about herself, something that she had done everything in her power to block out. Out of all the battles that she and her team had been through, she had never done a thing. From Kakashi's bell test, all the way to Gaara's attack, she had done nothing but stand aside and watch from the sidelines as her teammates dealt with their enemies. The only time she had actually done something to aid them was during the second part of the exams. Even then, she had still needed to be saved by someone else. For the Anbu to bluntly state this fact, it was as if someone had stabbed her with a kunai.

This had resulted in more tears falling down her face as this devastating realization finally sunk in. It didn't last long though, as the kunoichi had punched her hard in the jaw and sending her flying. Once she had recovered from her daze, she noticed that the woman was leaving the area. Her parting words were simple:

"I'll be here tomorrow, if you don't show up then just quit being a shinobi all together."

It was with those words, which left another emotion to surface through her. Anger, not the anger she displayed towards Naruto at times, but true and utter hatred for this woman. She hated the Anbu for her scathing remarks. She hated her for her treating her like a punching bag. But, most of all, Sakura hated her because she was right. Everything the Anbu had said was correct and she deserved every bit of criticism she had gotten from her. Sakura, hated that, she wanted to prove her wrong, that she _could_ improve herself, and show her that she wasn't pathetic.

Hence why she was currently here in the first place, and when she did arrive the next day, it was obvious that the woman was serious as Sakura found her waiting patiently in the center of the clearing. The pink haired girl had a feeling that, behind the blank hunter mask, the woman had been smirking that day before gesturing her to attack.

Speaking of which, the said woman was now returning to her feet while cracking her neck in the process. Sakura though, was still deep in thought about this whole situation. Sure, she could tell that what they were doing was indeed helpful, yet she couldn't understand what reason the kunoichi had to be helping her in the first place. Did Kakashi ask her to train her in private like he had done for Sasuke during the finals? She doubted it but, then again, it would make since, as Naruto was out on a mission so that left team training out of the question. She could understand that, as it wouldn't be fair for two team members to learn something while leaving one completely out of the loop.

Before she could put more thought into the subject of why the woman was training her, she heard the sound of footsteps quickly approaching and, without thinking, she quickly grasped the water bottle next to her before chugging it in the direction of the footsteps while her free hand dug into her shinobi pouch and brandished a kunai and tossing it in the same direction as the water bottle.

When she finally realized what she had done, she was surprised to see that the Anbu's cloak was currently dripping with water while holding the kunai by the tip with only two fingers. Once again, she felt as though the woman was smiling behind her mask as she tossed the said kunai into the air before catching it by the handle and placing it into her own pouch.

"Not bad," Praised the woman, though it didn't sound like praise to Sakura. "Still could use a bit of work but at least you're more aware of your surroundings."

"Y-yeah, thanks uh, Anbu-san."

The kunoichi merely waved her hand dismissively at that before tilting her head to the side slightly. "What's on your mind pinky?"

Sakura could feel her eyebrow twitch a bit at that but was able to push down her annoyance by letting out a sigh. "I was just thinking about something."

"Care to enlighten me?"

"W-well," Replied the girl, a bit uncertain on whether or not to ask before finally giving in. "I was just curious…why are you helping me?"

For a few moments the area was silent, thought it wasn't a silence that was filled with a tense atmosphere. After a while, the Anbu finally let out a sigh as she placed both her hand behind her head, which Sakura found oddly familiar yet couldn't figure out why.

"I guess you could say I see something great in you." Spoke the woman in all honesty. "You have the potential to be a great kunoichiin the future. But, from what I could tell, you weren't allowing yourself to grow. Potential is useless unless you can bring it out, so I decided to do just that. When you spared with me four days ago, you were only slightly better than a civilian. I had half the mind to just tell you to quit and save yourself from humiliating both yourself and kunoichi in general. Yet I didn't, and now, even in such short time, you've grown slightly better with your basic skills. Your endurance is slowly increasing; your observation skills, and instincts are improving as well. So, even if you yourself don't notice it, you truly do have the potential to grow at an alarming rate."

By the time the kunoichi was finished, Sakura was staring at her with widened eyes. She had no idea that someone could see such a thing in her. In most cases, people would talk about how quickly Naruto and Sasukewould improve yet never once did anyone mention her. But, for someone to actually notice that she herself had potential had brought forth the feelings of confidence and hope. Confidence that she wasn't just some useless fan-girl and hope that she could finally walk side by side with her teammates and not feel out of place.

"But, enough of that sentimental crap. Break times over pinky, so let's get back to training." Stated the Anbu before entering a fighting stance. Sakura didn't miss a beat as she too rose up from off the ground and replied in an uncharacteristic way.

"HELL YEAH!"

**Crater City**

"Oh hell yeah!" Shouted a familiar blond as he looked down upon the rather large village.

The group had just now arrived and the first thing that they noticed was the multiple stalls stationed in the center of the road and countless people bustling throughout the village. From food stalls, to gambling booths were scattered everywhere along the path. It was then that they realized that it was around the time for the city to have one of its festivals for the season.

Both Jiraiya and Hana shared a glance at the boy who was currently staring down at the village with what looked like stars in his eyes. What made it even more childish in their eyes was the fact that the boy was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet with excitement.

"What's your deal blondie? You've never been to a festival before?" Questioned Hana with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope, this is going to be my first time coming to one of these festivals. And its going to be awesome because I actually have the money to buy stuff." Replied the boy with a grin before digging into his pouch and pulling out his wallet, which resembled that of a fat green toad.

Hana let out a low whistle as she stared as his rather packed wallet. She had to admit, the kid was good at saving his money, unlike her brother who went out and spent most of the money he earned on missions the day he got it. Though, she didn't blame him, as she had done the same exact thing when she was that age as well.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, was grinning at the sight of so much money. Being who he was, he didn't really carry cash on him all the time, mostly just checks and a bit of change. However, with all the cash that Naruto had, he could easily afford to have his own fun without the need to waste any of his own funds. Given, he would pay the boy back of course, but that would be much later, preferably after they find Tsunade and returned to the village.

Unfortunately, before the sage could even open his mouth to comment on the blonde's money, the said blond was already rushing down towards the festival with Fujino right on his heels. Cursing lightly, the sage followed with Hana not far behind him. By the time they actually reached the streets, the blonde had mixed in with the crowd, making it difficult to find the said boy.

When the two had finally found the boy, he was standing by a random stall which was selling masks. When the blonde had turned to face them, he was already wearing his purchased mask, which happened to be a blue painted Kitsune mask. The two couldn't help but let out a sigh as he made his way over towards them.

"Admit it, I look awesome with this thing on." Said the blonde while grinning behind the mask.

"No, you look like a kid pretending to be an Anbu, and failing." Replied Hana while resisting the erg to smack herself in the forehead.

Tilting his head slightly, the blonde simply threw the hood of his cloak over his head before tucking all his blonde hair underneath. "How about now?"

This time, Hana _did _smack her forehead in annoyance as she stared back at the boy. All maturity she felt he had simply by saving up his money had been thrown out the window by this little act. Then again, this was more than likely the first time she had actually seen how childish the kid was. But the fact was that he was still in fact a kid, whether or not how famous he was in the village.

With the grin still on his face, Naruto once again pulled out his frog wallet and placed the change back inside its safe confines. However, before he could put it away, Jiraiya had struck and had swiped his wallet easily out of the boy's grasp.

"I'm going to confiscate this." Stated Jiraiya before hearing a low growl from the blonde.

"Like hell you are. You've got just about all my savings in that wallet and I don't trust you with it."

"Listen Naruto, in this world this world there are three things that lead to corruption: Alcohol, Money, and Women. The perfect example would be-"

"You." Interrupted the blonde with a deadpanned expression on his face. "You drink till you can't stand, you have enough money to buy anything in the Elemental countries and you practically whore yourself out to women whenever you get the chance. Don't think even for a second I don't know what you're planning to do, cause it aintgonna work. I learned how to take care of my funds and I always set an amount of money I plan to use before I do anything. So, give me back my wallet before I _take_ _it_ back."

"Oh yeah?" Replied the man with a grin as he eyed the boy with a knowing smirk. "Then by all means, try."

Before the said boy could even move, a sickening crunch could be heard, followed by a yelp from Jiraiya, causing him to toss the wallet into the air in surprise. When he realized what he had done, he let out a grown as it was too late to recover the green frog as Narutohad already caught it and was now holding it in his hand with, what he guessed, a smirk on his face. Glancing down, he glared at the rather large dog that had its jaws clamped just above his ankle.

"I hate you so much." Growled out the man as the dog released its hold on him before returning to Naruto's side.

"That's it, Hana-chan, I demand that you give me Fujino to be my new pet!" Declared the boy as he kneeleddown and gave the dog a hug, much to her enjoyment.

"Like hell that's going to happen!"

"Easy, I'm just kidding." Replied the boy while returning to his feet and backing away from the slightly angry woman with a sheepish smile on his face. However, as he was in the process of backing further away, he didn't realize that someone was behind him, causing him to bump into the said person. Upon impact, Naruto frowned and turned to see a man in a high collared white cloak with brown hair standing behind him.

"Oh, sorry about that sir."

When he didn't get a response, he raised an eyebrow before turning to face the man, only to notice that the man was currently staring intently at the front of his cloak. Glancing at the spot he found that, apparently, he had spilled something on the front, causing a small wet stain on the front.

"Look at what you did you brat!" Shouted a bald man standing next to him wearing a black suit. "You better be willing to compensate for this, as its Akoki's designer suit. Now pay up, 100, 000 Ryo, right now!"

Naruto mere made a small glance at the bald man, then at the man known as Akoki, before moving his new mask slightly to the side to take a better look at the stain.

"It's not that bad, it'll wash out and it won't even be too hard. Besides, looks to me like you got ripped off for this thing. I doesn't even look like it's worth 100,000 Ryo to me."

"What did you say! You better watch what you say around us for your sake. Akoki-sama is a former Chuunin from Iwa, and a legendary missing ninja. Someone you, little brat, should be afraid of as he is an incredibly skilled ninja. Besides, at least Akoki-sama has class, unlike a little street rat like you, who pulls his clothing out of the dumpster."

"Akoki?" Mumbled Hana to herself, trying to think of where she might of heard the name before. "I don't think I've heard of him."

"Legendary huh?" Murmured Jiraiya with a small smirk on his face as he crossed his arms across his chest.

He knew what was going to happen next, and he really didn't care. It was people like this guy that made people such as him look rather bad, claiming to be legendary when they clearly weren't. He had seen plenty of legendary people in his youth; hell trained the very best and most feared shinobi of all time. So, at least to him, for this no name missing nin to call be even remotely considered legendary was downright insulting. Hence why he really didn't care what happened to him for picking a fight with the wrong person. Besides, the guy had asked for it, and he was dying to watch the man's little ego drop down a couple hundred pegs.

"Street rat?" Asked the blonde with a slight tremble in his voice, a clear sign of annoyance and anger before chuckling slightly. "Hey, buddy, do you have health insurance?"

"Huh?" Was the bald man's last reply before the red cloaked Genin appeared in front of him before slamming his fist into the man's nose, followed with enough force to send the man flying into one of the stalls which happened to be selling water balloons. One of which had almost flown passed Jiraiya had he not caught it out of reflex before letting out a sigh. Glancing over, he knew that if the punch wasn't enough to knock him out, the impact he made with the stall did, as it soon collapsed on top of the man, leaving him a twitching mess underneath the remains of the stall.

"Why you little-"

Before the 'legendary' missing-nin could even take a step forward, he found that the boy's sword, which he had no idea was there until now, was positioned by his throat. Glancing up at the boy he found that, through the eye-holes of the mask, golden slit eyes staring back at him with great anger while feeling a great amount of killing intent radiating off him in waves.

"Your little lackey got what he deserved. You take even one more step towards me and I'll have you leaving here with more than just a stained ugly outfit."

By now, most of the people who were enjoying the festival had now surrounded the group and watching with mixed reactions. Most of the adults were startled, while the children were mixed with both fear, and awe as they watched. Incidentally, during the minor scuffle, Naruto's hood had fallen off his head, causing his blondehair to be seen once more. Deciding to givethe man a real scare he raised his free hand to remove his mask. Akoki could only stare in fear at the sight of the boy's face, as blue and gold slit eyes bore into his own while three red marks began to cover the whisker marks on his right cheek. Naruto could only smirk a bit at the fear that was now on the man's face, which resulted in one of his rather large fangs to surface adding an extra bit of a scare.

"Y-Y-Your," Stuttered the man as his body began to shake a bit in surprise. "Buruenkou!"

"Huh?" And just like that, his once angry expression changed into that of confusion as his demonic features faded away in less than a second. "What the hell are you talking about?"

It was then that Jiraiyalet out a sigh as he fished into his pocket and pulled out a small book. Upon opening the said book, he began flipping through pages until he finally found the one he was looking for. Once Narutonoticed this, he moved the blade away from the missing ninja's throat and walked over towards the man, who was holding the book out for him to take. What he found almost made him pass out due to shock, along with Hana as she glanced over his shoulder to see what the blonde was looking at.

It was a picture, not just any picture though, one of him. And underneath the said picture, was a small text.

_Name: Uzumaki Naruto_

_Alias: Konoha no Buruenkou _

_Rank: Genin_

_Village: Konohagakue no Sato_

_Ninja Status: B-Rank Shinobi_

_Precautions: Engage with caution._

For a few seconds, Naruto couldn't believewhat he was reading. Flipping the bookover to check the title he realized that, what was in his hands, was the bingo book. Even he knew what it meant to havehis name in this tiny book. It meant that he wasn't just famous in Konoha, but everywhere. It also meant that he was a bigger target for most villages. And at that moment, he didn't know how to feel about this strange new development. Should he be proud, or worried about this? He couldn't honestly give an answer to that question, as it was a lot to take in after all.

Hana was, if possible, just as surprised about this as Naruto was. She had never in her time as a Kunoichi heard of a Geninbeing labeled in the Bingo book. She had heard what the blonde had done during the invasion, as it was rather hard _not_to, but she didn't think that he would gain a reputation so quickly. Hell the youngest person she knew of that was that had been put into the in it was Itachi, and he was labeled as an S-rank criminal at age fourteen years old. It both amazed and scared her to know that someone so young could gain this rather unwanted attention in the span of a few weeks time.

"Congratulations kid." Spoke Jiraiya gravely, bringing both Hana and Naruto out of their thoughts. "You are now officially a marked man…..or a marked kid, whichever way you'd prefer."

**Unknown Location**

Deep in the confines of a dark cavern, a single red eye stared at the picture in the book he held in his hand. As the person's eye skimmed the page, a small smirk spread across his face before he snapped the book shut.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Mumbled the man to himself as he tossed the book aside. "now you're beginning to peak my interest."

The man let out a dark chuckle as he stepped out of the cave, greeted by the heavy rain that practically doused his outfit. He didn't care, as he now had more important things on his mind. Namely, how to deal with this new development that had been brought to his attention.

"Seems as though you a have become....stronger than I had originally anticipated....Hanyou."

* * *

_Konoha no Buruenkou_ - Konoha's Blue Flame

And there you have it. Hope you guys like the little thing with Naruto being in the Bingo book. Oh, and on the last chapter I made a minor mistake on it but I fixed it so....yeah. Also, the reason for the Sakura moment was because people have been telling me that I've been pretty much ignoring both her and Hinata in this story. I realized this mistake and I'm trying to fix it. Rest assured that you will see more of them in the future. Oh, and one last thing, I don't want to hear any complaining about the shortness of this chapter. It's annoying as it is writing about the filler stuff for this arc so please, bare with me until I get into the more important stuff. And now, onwards with the Jinchuuriki Chats!

Naruto: So, SF, where have you been?

Me: Oh, I've recently picked up RPing on here. It's actually quite fun.

Yugito: (Gasps) You like doing that too?!

Killer Bee: (Sweatdrops) He said Role Playing, not cos-playing Yugi-chan.

Yugito: (Blushes while chuckling sheepishly) Um, whoops.

Gaara: (Glances around) Excuse me, but, where is PM

Me: Oh, he's still at the hospital for his foot injury. Don't worry he'll be back next time.

Naruto: (Looks over at Yugito) Soooooo who do you cos-play as?

Yugito: (Squeals) SABER from Fate Stay Night!

Killer Bee: (Scuffs) That show's just a big chick-flick only with fight scenes and explosions.

Me: DON'T YOU DARE MAKE FUN OF FATE STAY NIGHT!

Yugito: YEAH, YOU TELL HIM!

Gaara: .....I've lost all respect for you.

Me: (Doesn't hear comment) The ending was (Sniff) so sad.

Yugito: (Sniff) Y-yeah, it's so (Sniff) unfair.

(Me and Yugito brustinto tears while hugging each other for comfort)

Naruto: (Glances at crowd) Um.....yeah, R&R. I aint got nothing to say this time so....yeah I'm leaving before I start to cry.

Yugito: (Sniff) How were you (Sniff) able to cope?

Me: (All sadness on face disappears and is replaced with a giant grin) I watched To Love Ru.

Killer Bee: Awesome!

Naruto: THAT'S A GOOD PLAN!

Gaara: ....youhavemyrespectoncemore.

Yugito: (Stares blankly as her grip unknowing tightens) What?


	29. Nightmares, Reunions, and the Rasengan

Hello all! Sorry for the long wait but, meh, writers block can be a bitch. Anyways, update's might be coming in slow for a while. Mainly because of this damned writers block still in effect and me taking part in an RP. But, I'll try my best to get some chapters out sooner for you all. Oh, and I might be doing a Holiday one-shot soon. Not sure when it's coming out but, rest assured, that it'll be out before Christmas. Well, enough all this crap, time to get on with the show!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_Jutsu

**"Speaking"**Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'**Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

'Where am I?'

That was one of the questions Naruto asked himself as he trekked down a dimly lit hallway. He had no idea as to how he had gotten here, nor did he know of a way to get out. But, he knew he couldn't just stand around and do nothing, so he simply kept walking. He had no idea where he was headed nor did he know of what dangers might lay ahead of him. But there were few options, so he simply went with it.

The peculiar thing about this situation was that he felt like he had been walking for hours, yet was still unable to reach the end of this corridor. It was annoying, and confusing him at the same time. Every once in a while he would pass by an iron door only to take a closer look at it and notice that it had no handle. He had tried to force it open, break it down and everything, they had all remained sturdy, not budging a single inch. So, after the first couple of doors and failing to open them, he had just given up on it and simply kept moving forward.

The only problem was that no matter how far he went, no matter how fast he ran, the corridor just wouldn't end. He had even tried to break through the wall in an attempt to get out, only to yield the same results as when he tried to force open the doors. Clearly, he wasn't allowed to go anywhere else, except for straight ahead.

'Why am I here?' questioned the blond to himself as he continued on his way.

After walking several more minutes and passing by four more iron doors, he noticed something in the distance. It wasn't a light per se; it was simply a glimmer of something not too far ahead. Feeling anxious at finally finding the exit to this strange place, he rushed towards it. Finally, he had reached his destination, which happened to be a rather spacious room with two torches on the opposite ends of the room. Aside from them, the room seemed completely vacant, which caused Naruto to scowl a bit in annoyance and frustration.

"Where the hell am I?" Spoke the blond while massaging the bridge of his nose, in an attempt to calm him down even slightly.

When he opened his eyes however, he was surprised at what he saw. Along all the walls, various iron doors were now visible, each one baring two chains locks and a key hole beneath the handle. Glancing around, he also noticed that the way he had entered this room was now replaced with a concrete wall and doors taking its place. Now feeling panicked, the blonde began shooting head in all directions, hoping to find some way to get out of here. Incidentally, he found that the object that had brought him to this place in the first place happened to be a fist size ring with multiple keys attached to it which was hanging innocently on the wall across from where the entrance used to be.

It was then that he noticed that, unlike the other walls, that wall had only one door. It looked almost exactly the same as the others, only the doorframe around the door was covered in slash marks, signs of someone struggling for dear life. As he stared at the door in curiosity, he started to develop a gut feeling about approaching it.

Currently, it was practically screaming at him to stay the fuck away from it.

Never the less, he hesitantly advanced towards it, hoping that his gut feeling was wrong and that it was just some bad food he might have eaten. Before he even realized, he was already in front of it, his hand already clamped around the handle, ready to open it. It was here that his instincts began to go haywire, and his better judgment overcame his curiosity.

It was a big surprise on his part that, the moment he released his hold on the handle, something on the other side of the door slammed into it. That wasn't all, as the moment that whatever-it-was made contact with the door, murky water began to steadily leak out from the small cracks in the door. Again, the door jerked violently while the chain locks holding the door in place groaned in protest under the strain. Naruto, who at this point backed away from the door, could only watch as the door continued to rattle as more and more water began to leak out and cover the floor.

After several seconds of this, the banging suddenly stopped, the room going completely silent. Raising an eyebrow in confusion, Naruto made a step towards it, only for his foot to land in the giant puddle that was in front of it. When he glanced down, his eyes widened as he hastily stepped away from it. The reason for this action was that the puddle wasn't water like it had been moments before. Instead of a puddle of murky water, it was now a small pool of warm blood.

Suddenly, the sound of low and dark chuckle began to echo throughout the room, causing the blonde to dart his head in all directions, aiming to find the source of the laughter. Instead, he found nothing but what he had already seen before hand. The only place he could really assume that laughter was coming from was from the door in front of him. So, he stepped towards it once more, only for the chuckling to cease once he was about a few meters away from it.

Now Naruto was starting to get really freaked out. The long corridor, the doors appearing out of nowhere, exits replaced by walls and more doors, the list just wouldn't stop. He needed to get out of here, and he needed to do it quickly before anything else could happen.

The young blond let out a sigh in an attempt to calm himself down. He was getting worked up, the eeriness of this place was making him jumpy, and if didn't calm down soon, he was going to find himself in a very bad predicament. Glancing down at his feet, he didn't even bother to suppress the scowl that appeared on his face at the smell of the blood. Words could not describe how terrible it smelled to him, what made it worse was that he was standing in it. It would take days of scrubbing his feet until the skin was raw before the stench would finally be gone.

The moment he went to get his feet out of the said life liquid, he noticed something odd about his reflection. Taking a better look, he noticed that nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The blonde shrugged, thinking that it was just his imagination when he saw it.

His reflection's lips twitched upwards, just slightly the moment he went to move. Now _that_wasn't his imagination playing tricks on him; that had been real. Apparently, the reflection had realized he had been noticed, because the moment Naruto stepped out of the puddle, it began to laugh. Naruto, not sure how to handle this situation, did what he thought would not only get rid of the imposter, but might also get him out of this place. With an intake of air, he exhaled, while blue flames engulfed the room.

But, even as the flames consumed every corner of the room, the laughter continued to echo all around him. That laugh was haunting to Naruto, like a very bad memory that just wouldn't go away. He just wanted the laughter to stop, to burn whoever the originator was. If he had looked back at the door, he would've seen one of the chain locks rattle slightly, even though the door had remained motionless.

**Hotel Room**

"Naruto!" cried Hana for the fifth time that morning as she continued to shake the slumbering blond. "Wake the fuck up you little-"

Before the Chuunin could finish her comment, the boy's slit blue eyes snapped open before sitting up and grabbing the Inuzuka by her throat. Startled, the teen could only stare in shock as the blonde's blue eyes shifted from blue to gold repeatedly before settling at their original color. The moment they had returned to normal, Naruto's hand released its grip on her throat before plopping himself back down onto the couch while wiping the cold sweat that was on his brow.

"Just a dream," muttered the blonde to himself as he stared up at the ceiling. "A really, _really_ weird dream."

Hana, of course, heard this and frowned slightly. Sure, nightmares happen to everyone, but she had never seen anyone react the way Naruto had just now. Clearly it was something that had really gotten under his skin. She had to resist the urge to rub her neck due to Naruto's actions. She made a mental note to find an alternate way to wake the brat up from now on.

"Dream or no dream, you got shit to do. So, get off your ass and get going. Jiraiya-sama's at the outskirts of the village waiting for you."

Groaning, the boy merely nodded before getting out of his 'bed' so to speak before grabbing his clothes and heading to the bathroom.

Now, to shed some light as to why he was sleeping on the couch, it was rather simple. Since the hotel that they were all staying at was just about booked completely due to the festival, they had only two bedrooms left. So, that meant that Naruto was forced to either share a room with Jiraiya, or Hana. He had no choice in the matter though, as Jiraiya had forced him to share with the latter. The only reason the two didn't complain was because, right when he had told the two of their temporary living arrangements, two attractive young ladies had appeared in the lobby before following the man as he led him to his own room, cackling wildly as he did so.

Needless to say, Hana, Naruto, and even the receptionist all shivered at the thought of what was going to happen. So, once Hana laid down the ground rules to him, he had succumbed to his fate and thus bore with it.

So, now we find our young hero stepping out of the bathroom, fully clothed with Tessaiga strapped to his side. As he made his way towards the door, he could hear Fujino beginning to whine as she sat by the doorway, ears down and sad wide eyes staring at him.

"Don't worry, I'm not going too far away," stated the blonde with a smile as he patted the dog's head, causing the said dog's tail to wag happily. "I'll be back, in the mean time help Hana-chan find this lady so we can all go home."

His only reply was a bark, which caused the boy to smile a bit more as he opened the door and exited his temporary home, leaving Hana and her dogs to themselves. It didn't take him long to find the Sage, for he could still smell the perfume that one of the woman was wearing the other day. He could also smell something else, but he chose not to put too much thought as to what it might have been.

"Yo, Ero-Sennin." greeted the blond with a small grin upon seeing the elder man's eyebrow twitch in annoyance.

"You know, I could just say screw teaching you anything and leave you to yourself."

"Ok, ok, geez, Jiraiya-san."

"That's better," remarked the man with a smirk. "Now, with that aside, its time for me to show you what you were going to be learning during our trip."

Right after he had said this, he had Naruto's complete attention. He was waiting for the sage to flash through a long chain of seals and unleash a powerful technique. What the man did instead, was extend his hand out, nothing else, just that. However, before the blonde could comment, he watched in fascination as chakra began to gather in the center of the man's palm. Then, before he knew it, a perfect sphere of blue chakra was now in the man's hand, still swirling and spinning at that very moment.

"This, Naruto, is a technique that was created by none other than the Yondaime Hokage," Stated the man, beaming with pride as he spoke. "Now, witness its might."

Spotting a small boulder, about the same height as the blonde, he rushed towards it before slamming the sphere into it. The results blew Naruto's mind. He could only watch as the boulder was blown to pieces the moment the ball of chakra made contact with it.

"Wow," was all the boy could say as he stared at where the boulder once was. To him, this technique was clearly powerful. Sure, he could do the same thing to the boulder with a couple of his strong punches. He, however, couldn't completely obliterate it in one hit like Jiraiya had just done.

"Amazing isn't it? It's called the _Rasengan_, and it was one of the Yondaime's signature techniques. His other technique was… well that's save that for another time. Anyways, this technique is quite unique in its own way, simply because it doesn't require any hand seals."

"Then, how does it work?"

"I'm getting to that, so be patent and shut up!" snapped the man, earning grumbles from Naruto, who nevertheless started apologizing. "As I was saying, the technique doesn't require hand seals because it only relies on the shinobi's ability to mold chakra. The individual must concentrate a contained, fast, and rotating sphere in the center of their palm, which can be used in the way I had demonstrated."

"So, it's just a ball of compressed chakra which is released upon impact, resulting in the destructive force that I'd just seen?"

The sage blinked once, then twice, before taking a better look at the blond in front of him. "What have you done to Naruto?"

"Very funny Ero-Sennin."

The man could only chuckle at the boy before he rummaged through his inside pockets and pulled out a single water balloon. Tossing it to the blonde, who caught it easily, he brought out another from the same pocket before holding it out in front of him.

"Despite how it looks, the _Rasengan _is actually a very difficult technique to learn. It took me three months to complete it myself. But, after doing so, I was able to break this technique down into three steps. The first step is Rotation. Tell me, how do you do both Tree Climbing and Water Walking exercises?"

Naruto scratched his head as he tried to remember how Tenten had taught him how to do it. "Well, for the tree climbing, you need to maintain a set amount of chakra to your feet. For Water Walking, you need to focus an even amount of chakra and maintain it constantly, so long as you're on the water's surface."

"Very good!" praised the man as the water balloon in his hand began to shake. Upon closer inspection, Naruto could tell that the water inside the said balloon was moving in every direction, causing it to bump on every side of the balloon before it burst, drenching Jiraiya's hand. "And that's all there is to it for this step. It's simply combining both of those exercises together at once."

Glancing at his own water balloon, he could only raise an eyebrow. "So all I got to do is make the water inside spin then maintain a moderate amount of chakra to my hand while also releasing it constantly?"

"Yup."

"Sounds easy enough."

"I said the same thing, don't be fooled, it's harder than it sounds," replied the man before stretching his arms out a bit. "Well, I've got work to do. I'll be back later to check up on your progress. Don't worry too much if you can't get it on the first day. I sure as hell couldn't do it."

The blonde mere gave the man a small wave as he left the area. Once the man was gone, all of his attention was then focused on the small ball of water in his hands. To him, this sounded too easy. Then again, maybe Jiraiya was right. He knew for a fact that his chakra control was terrible, but he had managed to both of the exercises that Jiraiya had mentioned. So maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't be as bad as he had thought.

"Alright, let get to work," spoke the boy to himself as he held the balloon out in front of him and started channeling his chakra.

**Prison Cell: 107**

"Hey, Suna-hime," grunted one of the guards as he stood in front of the iron bars containing the prisoner, "you've got a visitor."

The 'Suna-hime' didn't move. Due to the little light illuminating the cell, it was very hard to tell if she had even noticed the man's presence. She simply sat at the far corner of the confined area, huddled up in a protective ball. Her hair was in complete disarray, while no longer being held up in the four pony tails that they once were. Her attire was the standard grey jumpsuit that all prisoners wore. The sound of shuffling feet could be heard, yet she paid no mind to whoever her visitor was.

"You have fifteen minutes, don't waste it," stated the guard gruffly before walking off.

For a few moments, it was silent. The sounds of other prisoner's bickering were completely ignored by the two individuals. The woman was tempted to take a glance at the person who had arrived, yet she didn't. Just then she heard the sound of the individual sighing, before hearing a voice that made her eyes widen in both shock and joy.

"So, can't even say hello to your little brother?"

Almost immediately, Temari's head snapped towards the bars, delighted by the sight of her war-paint wearing brother, who was smiling sadly at her. Within a few moments, she had practically ran to the bars of her cell before sliding her arms through the gaps in an attempt to hug her brother, whom she hadn't heard from in almost two months.

Had she been able to see on each side of the said cell door, she would have found that two Anbu guards were stationed on either side of the jail cell, both of which having their hands on their respective weapons, ready to strike should she try anything. Fortunately, they relaxed when Kankuro's own arms slid through the bars to embrace his beloved sister, despite the fact that they really weren't hugging each other due to the bars.

"I missed you, sis," said the boy as he released his hold and slid his arms back through the bars.

"I missed you too," replied the blonde with a small smile as she stared back at her younger brother.

He hadn't changed much since she had last seen him. He still wore the same outfit he had before. The only thing that he wasn't wearing was his makeup, which was rather rare since he almost always wore it unless told otherwise. As she gave him a quick once over, her eyes widened slightly when she saw the leaf symbol engraved on the plate of his hat. It seemed that he too realized what it was she was looking at and sighed once more, plopping himself down on the cold stone floor beneath him.

"What's this about?" asked the blonde with a slight edge in her tone.

The boy seemed to be a loss, as his eyes glazed over in thought of how to explain it. He knew Temari wouldn't like this, but it was part of the reason he was here. He wanted to make sure she was ok, of course, but he had a lot to tell her, and had very little time to do so.

"Look, I know how much you don't like it but this is how it is. After Baki had sent me back to Suna, father had pretty much disowned me. He said he was ashamed at how weak I had become, that being beaten by a Konoha shinobi was a disgrace to his name and the village itself. So, he stripped me of my Genin status, and forced me to leave Suna. I knew that dad was a coward, we all did, but for him to do such a thing to me, his own son… well, you can imagine how angry I was."

Temari couldn't help but stare at her brother with sadness evident in her eyes. Their father was a cruel man, even to his children. Gaara was made into a weapon, and Kankuro was left to rot. She didn't even want to know what that man had in store for her.

"So, I came here, hoping to warn the Hokage about the attack, while also hoping to get some form of revenge against that man. But, I came here too late, so I had simply took off a dead Konoha shinobi's hitai-ate, and replaced it with my old one. Later though, Anbu Corps had found out about me and I was brought in for questioning. I was lucky, since I had aided in the battle and had a witness to testify my statement, they simply put me on probation from shinobi duties until the Godaime is appointed. It'll be the Hokage's decision whether or not I'm going to be re-instated as a Konoha shinobi or not."

Temari, despite everything her brother had told her, felt as if she was betrayed. She knew that he was justified for his reasons for turning against Suna, but that meant that it would only be Gaara and her to return back to Suna, if they ever got out of prison that is. Still, the thought of going home without one of her other siblings was almost heartbreaking. Not only that, but even more shame will be brought upon their family for not only her father's actions, but for Kankuro's treachery as well.

"What will you do if the Godaime doesn't re-instate you as a Konoha shinobi?" asked the blonde with a slight quiver in her tone.

The boy merely shrugged before answering truthfully. "Then I'll just travel, see new places, learn new things, meet new people, and so on and so forth. Who knows, I might even try to get registered as a shinobi from some other country like Kiri or Ame if it comes down to it."

His answer did little to help the young woman's mood as her hands clenched tightly around the bars. She couldn't believe he'd rather be anywhere but with them back home. Did he really care nothing for them? Did he really hate Suna that much now because of what their father had done? It just wasn't fair to her that she had lost two brothers simply because of that bastard's actions.

"Do you hate us that much Kankuro?" asked the blonde as fresh spilt tears began to fall from her eyes as she stared down at the cold stone floor beneath her. "Do you hate us so much that you would rather stay here alone than to come home with your family?"

Kankuro couldn't bear to look at his sister at this point. Temari was a strong kunoichi, one of the best Fuuton users in Suna. It was rare to ever see his sister actually break down in such a way. One of the few times that he had seen her like this, was when their mother had died all those years ago, and yet even then she wasn't sobbing nearly as bad as she was now. Just the sound of it made his heart ache.

Placing his gloved hand on her own that was still gripping the bars firmly, he gave her a small smile as she glanced up at him, tears still falling down her cheeks. Once her eyes locked with her brother's, she could see the regret that lie behind them as his grip tightened on her hand.

"I never said I hated either you or Gaara," said the boy in a quiet yet reassuring tone. "But, there's nothing there for me to go back to anymore. If I go back, I'll just be an even bigger disgrace to not only the village, but to our family as well. I'll never be a Suna shinobi again so, at least here, I can at least start over. It's a fifty-fifty chance, but it's a gamble I'm gonna need to take. I do want to go home, see my friends, be with you and even Gaara, but I don't have that option anymore."

Slowly, he removed his hand away from his sister's and pulled it away from the bars before she could grab them once more. He sighed as he stood up again and took a step back as the guard from earlier had returned once again, glaring heatedly at the woman locked away in the cell. "I'll come visit you again soon, Temari-nee-chan."

Temari could say nothing as her brother was escorted out the door. She didn't flinch when the door slammed shut behind them, nor did she bother to hear the spiteful words that came from the guards as they passed by her cell. The girl could do nothing but stare blankly at the door, wishing that her brother would return once more. She knew better though, despite what she hoped, wished, and dreamed. After all, her and her two brothers hadn't been very close by any sense of the word. Most people who had met them couldn't even tell that they were siblings at all, which was something Temari didn't like.

So, Temari had given it her best attempt to bring them all closer to each other, if nothing else than to at least make it seem like they were family. Needless to say, her attempts had all ended in failure and thus resulted in them all being who they were now; bitter, cold, and above all distant to one another. None of them were near the other for very long and whenever they were together the air had always held a feeling of tense silence. She wanted to blame her father for this, hell she wanted to blame everything on that man. But she couldn't, because she was partially to blame along with Kankuro as well.

If the two weren't so afraid of Gaara, if they had pushed away their fears and faced him, told them that they cared for him, maybe he wouldn't have turned out the way he did. But neither of the two siblings did such a thing, and that was the most likely reason why Gaara truly hated them. And with that hatred, she had found herself growing the same way towards Kankuro and vice-versa.

After wiping away her tears the girl dragged herself to her feet before walking over towards the corner she had once been sitting in and returned to her previous position on the floor.

**Outskirts of Crater City**

When Naruto had first started this training, he figured that it wouldn't be as hard as Jiraiya had said it would. The way he put it, made it really simple it was just a matter of controlling his chakra the way the Sannin had described. There wasn't anything too difficult about channeling and maintaining a steady flow of chakra at once right?

Well, after spending nearly a full day training on how to accomplish this supposedly 'simple' procedure, the blonde was quick to realize how difficult it really was. Sure, he could get the water to move, but it only went in one direction and the balloon simply refused to pop. No matter how much chakra he pushed into the sphere of water, it simply refused to burst. He had repeated the step over and over again, trying to understand what he was doing wrong, yet the results stayed the same.

Clearly, Jiraiya wasn't kidding when he said this technique was difficult learn.

Despite his annoyance, the Hanyou knew he wasn't doing something right. Sure, he wasn't a genius, but even he could tell that he was doing something wrong. He tried to think back to what Jiraiya had been doing when he had demonstrated it to him earlier that day. He had held the balloon the same way he was, he could feel the chakra forming inside the sphere, and he saw how the water was moving while the chakra was flowing inside of it.

"This is getting annoying," growled out the blonde as he flopped onto the soft grass below him.

The blonde let out a sigh as a gentle breeze picked up through the clearing, causing the blades of grass and leaves in the nearby trees to shift. The boy allowed himself to enjoy the calming atmosphere that had, literally, swept over the clearing.

As he lied on the grass, his thoughts began to wonder back to the strange dream he had. It wasn't like him to have nightmares very often. Sure, he had his terrors as a child, though those were actual terrors rather than the other kids' fear of the dark or monsters hiding under the bed. But he hadn't had any real nightmares since he turned eleven. And whenever he did have a bad dream, it wasn't nearly as bad as the one he had experienced. Did everyone have dreams like those at least once in their lives? Where nightmares feel as real as that one did?

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Naruto decided to ask Hana or Jiraiya about those questions later. For now, he had other things to think about, such as how to pass this first step of the Rasen… gan?

"Wait?" said the blonde in alarm and confusion as his head snapped up from off the ground. "The jutsu is called Spiraling Sphere, so that means…"

Naruto had to refrain from smacking himself in the forehead for not noticing it before. It was no wonder the technique wasn't working, as he only made his chakra spin in only one direction. Now he remembered why it looked so different when Jiraiya had done it. When the sage had done it, the bumps were appearing everywhere along the balloon, not in just one direction like he had been doing.

Returning to his feet, the boy quickly grabbed the same balloon he had been using during the course of this exercise before focusing his chakra into the sphere. As he continued the flow of chakra into the balloon, he soon began the process of rotating it in all different directions. The blonde was happy to note that the bumps were appearing all over the surface of the balloon and grinned a bit in pride.

However, the boy was starting to feel the strain of such a task. Despite learning what he was doing wrong, it didn't make accomplishing the task any easier. After several minutes of pumping and manipulating chakra around inside the balloon, it finally burst, causing the water to drench his hand and splash him a bit in the face. But, at the moment, the blonde didn't care about the water, for he had finally accomplished the task that was given to him. So it was needless to say that, once he caught the scent of a familiar individual, he turned to face him with a triumphant grin still planted on his face.

"I got it Jiraiya-san!" cried the boy in delight as he extended his hand to show him what remained of the water balloon still in his hand.

Jiraiya, could help but grin at his godson for his accomplishment. Who knew that the kid would get the first step completed in just a single day? Clearly, he had underestimated the boy, for he honestly didn't expect him to pop the balloon for at least a few more days. Hell, he had even done it with one hand the same way he had shown him. Still, just because the boy had popped the balloon didn't mean he was ready to take on the second part of the training.

"That's good to hear kid, but let me ask you something. Do you think you can do it again in less than a minute?"

Instantly, Naruto's triumphant grin turned into an angry scowl as he glared back at the Sennin. Naruto wouldn't deny that it took him too long to perform this exercise as quickly as Jiraiya had demonstrated. He was quick to understand what Jiraiya was telling him to do, and he didn't like it at all.

"How quickly can you complete this exercise?"

The man simply smirked before extending his hand. Wordlessly, Naruto tossed one over to him, only to watch the balloon pop a few seconds after it had landed in his hand. "Ten seconds. But, if it's any consolation, that's because I've mastered this technique so doing this part is as easy as breathing. The goal I want you to reach will be thirty seconds. When you can do it in that amount of time, we'll move on to the next stage.

The blonde merely snorted in annoyance as he glared up at the man. But, he would be the first to admit that doing this step in three minutes was rather pathetic. He could understand the fact that he wasn't up to Jiraiya's standards yet. Besides, this was helping him with his chakra control as well. After all, being able to move chakra in many directions was difficult to do, and the more he did it the easier it would be in the long run.

Nodding his head in agreement, the blonde let out a sigh before walking over towards the sack of balloons Jiraiya had left for him.

"Hey, save your energy for tomorrow brat. The day is done, so let's head back to the hotel and get something to eat."

Even though he had heard this, Naruto still took a single balloon from the sack before turning around and tossing it at Jiraiya's head with great force. Surprised by this action, Jiraiya wasn't able to react in time and thus, was hit square in the face, causing the balloon to pop on one of the horns on his head plate and thus, drenching his whole face with water.

"You needed that; I just couldn't stand the stench coming off you," replied Naruto with a grin before rushing back towards the town, while a still surprised Jiraiya remained in place.

The old man raised an eyebrow before lifting one of his arms and taking a small sniff. He had to refrain from gagging by his own smell before turning over towards the direction that Naruto had ran off to.

"You could have just told me to take a shower," grumbled the man as he started making his way back towards the village.

* * *

Well, that's that. Now, before you send me a review telling me its bull shit that Naruto finished the first step in a day, I want to remind you all of something. In this story, Naruto's not a complete moron. He's smart, not as smart as Sakura or Shikamaru, but he's still somewhat knowledgeable. Meaning that, given enough time, he can figure out things. But, rest assured that he isn't going to fly through all three stages of the Rasengan in a few days. So, please don't chew me out too much for making him pass this first step so quickly. Well, now that all that has been said, on with the Jinchuuriki Chat!

(Me Naruto, Killer Bee, PM, and Gaara all standing outside the JC chat room)

Me: I'm telling you, it could happen!

Naruto: You've been watching two many Echi animes.

Me: What's wrong with that? Besides, all I'm saying is that it can happen.

Gaara: I highly doubt it is possible.

Killer Bee: Sounds like a bunch of trouble to me.

PM: Don't underestimate To-Love-Ru. SF just might be right.

Me: See even PM agrees with me.

Naruto: (Opening door to chat room) I still don't think that Yugito would-

Yugito: (Jumps out wearing a skimpy black cat outfit complete with cat ears and tail before striking a pose) W-W-Welcome b-back M-Master! Nyaa~ Nyaa~

(Everyone's eyes widen with blood dripping out their noses.)

Me: (Turn towards Gaara and Naruto) Told you it could happen.

PM: Where have I seen this before?

Yugito: (Points accusingly everyone) N-N-Naruto was the only one who was supposed to come here!

Gaara: (Glares at SF) I hate you...._so_ much.

Me: (Shrugs then turns towards crowd) R&R please. Also, please take this opportunity to snap a few pictures! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so quick gawking and get your camera's out!

Yugito: I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!! (Starts chasing after SF while ignoring the multiple flashing lights around her)

PM: I still feel like I've seen this somewhere.


	30. The Search Continues and Inner Conflict

YO PEOPLE! Man its good to be back. Ok, I will be honest with you guys, I needed some time off from this, so I did put this story off for the sake of my busy lifestyle. But, I'll admit that I did this far longer than I should have, thus why I'm doing this now. I know you guys are ready for me to get to the good stuff in this arc, which I will. But, again, life comes first before this so bare with me on this. Rest assured though, I will try my absolute best to post some updates as quickly as possible from now on. Well, enough this crap, on with the chapter!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_Jutsu

**"Speaking"**Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking'**Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking"**_Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

"Damn rubber ball" Grumbled a certain blond young man, his slit eyes glaring heatedly at the bright colored sphere sitting on the coffee table in front of him. Just looking at the thing pissed the boy off to no end. Though this wasn't the first time he had uttered these words to the ball, it seemed like his anger towards the object was beginning to grow each time he said it.

See, after he had spent two extra days practicing the first step to the Rasengan, he had finally reached an acceptable standard to where Jiraiya would allow him to begin the second step in his training. That step required him to pop a rubber ball, utilizing the same procedure as the first step, only to add more chakra into the said ball. Didn't sound too hard right?

However, Naruto soon discovered that he had been wrong, dead wrong. At first, he thought that he was overlooking something obvious like the he had during the first step. He had wracked his brain, contemplating what he was overlooking. By the end of it all, he came upon the realization that he hadn't overlooked anything, that he was doing everything accordingly. Which lead to the conclusion that either there was something else that Jiraiya wasn't telling him, or he just wasn't putting enough chakra into the sphere. With this thought in mind, Naruto had rushed back into his training, spending every waking hour he could and sometimes even staying up into the wee hours of the morning in practice.

Before he had even realized it, it had been almost two weeks, and the boy had still been unable to pass the step. However, this was not the only issue, as he kept having the same dream he had fifteen days ago, resulting in a lack of proper sleep. He had no idea why the dream kept haunting him, nor what it even meant. All he knew, was that it was making it harder and harder to sleep. Though, there was some good news out of all of this.

Naruto, after spending almost two weeks of training on the second step, was now able to deflate the ball, something that secretly impressed Jiraiya. He knew that these steps weren't made to be simple, they were challenging, even to him when he first began learning the technique. For Naruto to get as far as he was in only a matter of weeks was simply astounding. Part of him was miffed at being outdone by a kid who was border lining thirteen, while the other part of him was extremely proud of his godson for his accomplishments.

Currently, he was sitting on the couch in the hotel room he and Hana had been sharing for half a month. Jiraiya had informed the two that he had found a lead to Tsunade's whereabouts. The news was dull in his eyes, as his top priority at the moment was to pop the rubber ball. Still, a mission was a mission and Jiraiya had sent the two back to pack their things and prepare to depart.

Naruto had already finished packing his things, now all he was waiting for was Hana and for Jiraiya to come get them. During his time waiting, he made another attempt at popping the rubber ball only to yield the same results as his latest accomplishment. Now, he was down to three more balls before he had to buy more. He was about to try again, but decided against it in favor of taking this time to relax a bit.

After glaring at the rubber ball for a few more seconds, Naruto shifted his gaze towards the door leading to Hana's room. Why did it take women so long to pack their things? It wasn't like this was a vacation or anything, she said so herself back in Otafuku Gai, so why was she taking her sweet ass time packing? Sighing out of annoyance and frustration, the blonde adjusted his sword to where it was propped up on his shoulder, his right arm resting on the butt end of scabbard.

Upon doing this, he turned his full attention on the sword next to him, his once bored and heated gaze began to shift into guilt and remorse. He hadn't heard anything from anyone inside his mind, something hadn't noticed until recently. Did he really disappoint all of them that much? Sure, he wasn't proud of his actions, but he needed to live. He needed Kyuubi's chakra in order to survive that moment against Gaara. If he hadn't, it was highly plausible that many people would have lost their lives that day.

Naruto's thoughts were vanquished when he realized that he was gripping the sheath a little too tightly. He needed to sort this mess out, and now was as good a time as any. That being said, he situated himself to where he was now sitting in a lotus position. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and began to focus.

**Mindscape**

What awaited the blonde when he arrived in his mind, wasn't something he had expected. Whenever he arrived, it was either bright and sunny or drawing close to sunset. This time, however, he was greeted with rain, heavy rain.

Snapping his eyes open, he took in his surroundings. Most of the area was covered in giant puddles of murky brown water. The leaves around the trees were rattling in the powerful winds above and the sky was covered in dark grey clouds, blocking out the suns glorious rays.

"I can already tell that this won't end well." Muttered the blonde to himself as he stood up. Flipping the hood of his cloak up, he trekked his way down the path leading to the three huts. After a few minutes of walking, he came upon the area in which Taishou, Kyuubi, and Inuyasha all resided. The sight in which he found, reminded him of why he was so hesitant to return.

Kyuubi, garbed in the usual attire as always, was standing on top of her home, staring up at the dark gray clouds above, her body unmoving, and unfazed by the harsh winds and rain. From his position, her right shoulder was facing him, meaning he couldn't make out much else other than obvious. Her clothes were drenched, causing the fabric to cling to body, her once radiant scarlet hair, now damp and swaying in the heavy winds. Behind her, the nine equally scarlet tails, lay limply on the roof of the hut with the tips of a few of tails draped over the ledge of the hut swaying in the wind as well. Her expression, was completely blank, yet he couldn't tell what gaze she held as she stared up at the storm clouds above.

Upon this sight, Naruto's resolve quickly began to plummet downhill. Just looking at her brought forth the tremendous guilt he had experienced a while ago. He couldn't bring himself to see her, not like this. The blond cast one last look at the woman who had helped him, trained him, and cared for him, before turning away and prepared to return to reality. If anyone was watching, they would have called him a coward. He wouldn't deny it, simply because it was the truth.

"**Naruto."** That one word was all it took for the blonde's heartbeat to cease. She had seen him, hell she more than likely knew of his presence the very moment he arrived. By all accounts he shouldn't have been surprised, and he wasn't. No, it was something else which had made him stop in his tracks, made his eyes widen, his heartbeat begin to pick up at a much faster rate than before.

The emotion he felt, at this very moment was pure, and utter, terror.

Slowly he turned himself around to face the woman. Her head was still held high, yet her one visible eye was gazing back at him. No other part of her body had moved, her facial features didn't change in the slightest. All she had done was turn her gaze upon him, yet that was enough to strike so much fear into the usually fearless young man.

"K-Kyuubi." Stammered the young man, the powerful gusts rustling his cloak harshly which resulted in his hood falling back off his head.

The silence that followed, was almost deafening despite the whistles and pitter patter of rain connecting with the nearby wilderness around them. Neither one moved an inch, neither broke away from the other's gaze. They didn't even blink throughout this tense stare off.

After what had felt like hours, Naruto could bare to look at the woman's gaze any longer, instead shifting his attention anywhere but at the red-haired Biju before him. He would often spare her a quick glance, only to look away a second later. Kyuubi, however, never took her eyes off him, completely ignoring everything else around her.

"K-Kyuubi-chan." Began the blond, yet keeping his attention elsewhere. "I-I just came here to talk."

He didn't receive a response, something that worried him greatly. Hesitantly, he turned his attention back over towards the woman. All he found, however, was nothing but the roof of the hut and more clouds.

"**There is nothing more to be said, Naruto-**_**sama**_**"** Replied a voice from behind him with a snarl.

Naruto couldn't help but flinch at the tone in which Kyuubi had used. He remembered it from when he had ask, no, demanded for her chakra. He knew from that very moment she was far from happy with him, and upon hearing that tone again, it was safe to assume that nothing had changed. Still, she was right behind him, and now was as good a time as any to explain and, hopefully, apologize.

However, this plan didn't work out as well as he had envisioned. For the moment he turned around to address her, a red blur suddenly swatted him across the face, with enough force to send him flying into the air, landing on the damp earth in front of the woman's hut.

The boy groaned as he staggered back to his feet. The sudden attack had really disoriented him and he doubted that the attack had a lot of strength in it at all. Ignoring the stinging sensation on his face, he glanced back up where he assumed Kyuubi was still standing, only to come face to face with the said woman, her slit pupils staring impassively into his own. For that brief moment, there was no movement nor sound between them. Then, once that moment had passed, Kyuubi's hand suddenly shot out and gripped the blond tightly before standing up strait, dragging Naruto's feet across the ground as she did so and lifting him over her head with little effort.

The blonde's calm breaths soon turned into rapid wheezes as he tried to pry the woman's hand off his throat. He was running out of air, and he needed to get her off him.

"**I want you to understand something, Naruto-**_**sama**_**." **Spoke the woman once more, her tone unchanging and her impassive stare never faltering in the slightest as she spoke. **"I am no one's pet. You are my jailor but I will not, by any means, be treated like a slave. The regeneration, making you into a Hanyou, teaching you Kitsune-bi, all of these things were for the sake of keeping you alive. And yet, after all this time, you spit in my face and demand for more."**

At this point, Naruto's arms had fallen limply to his sides, his eyes were beginning to droop due to the increasing pressure that Kyuubi had been applying. At this rate, he could tell that he was going to pass out. However, just when his vision was about to darken, Kyuubi had tossed him to her right, causing him to go skipping across the ground twice before skidding to a stop in front of Inuyasha's hut.

"**Pathetic spoiled brat."** Snarled the woman, as she slowly made her way towards him, with a small yet familiar ghostly blue flame on the tip of her index finger. **"I guess power does end up corrupting even the best of you mortals." **

With her statement said, she stopped a couple feet away from the boy, who was at this point now panting in a kneeling position on the ground, his head facing towards her. Scuffing, the woman merely pointed at his exposed body, the flame on the tip of her digit still burning brightly despite the heavy ran.

"_**Kitsune-bi."**_Whispered the woman to herself as she stared at the blonde boy with slightly narrowed eyes.

By the time Naruto had finally caught his breath, the ghostly blue flame was upon him. He could only stare wide eyed as he watched the quickly approaching flames advance towards him. He ideally wondered if this was how his opponent's felt whenever they saw this attack. However, just at the flames were about to connect with his shocked form, a large yellow beam of energy suddenly shot out from behind him, colliding with the ferocious flames before separating them in two directions.

Kyuubi could only frown as she stared at the individual who had stopped her. Naruto himself was more surprised than anyone at this sudden result. Turning around to see who his savior was, he found the familiar form of Inuyasha, Tessaiga propped up onto his right shoulder while his left hand was propped on his hip. Standing beside him though, was Taishou, who had the most serious gaze Naruto had ever witness on the demon.

"Kyuubi-dono." Spoke the man calmly, yet with a hint of pint up anger in his tone as he stared challengingly at the woman before him. "What is the meaning of this."

"**It doesn't concern you Taishou."** Was the woman's reply, glaring at the former demon lord.

"The hell it don't! Ya nearly burnt the kid to a crisp just now!" Was the ever blunt comment of Inuyasha.

"**This doesn't concern you either, Hanyou."**

"Naruto-san." Spoke Taishou, his gaze never once leaving Kyuubi as he addressed the boy. "Leave us this instant."

Staring at the demon lord for a moment, he was about to comment when the man turned his gaze upon him. That alone silenced all protests he would have made. There was no doubt about it, Taishou wasn't giving him any room to complain or speak. It was an order…one that left no room for arguments.

Naruto's shoulders sagged as he stared at the grass in defeat. He had been right all along, coming here was a big mistake. It wasn't like he had a choice, he had to come back sometime. But, it seemed that all he had accomplished in coming here was fueling Kyuubi's anger towards him. Glancing at the said demon one last time, he couldn't help but flinch at the cold stare she was giving him.

He could feel himself beginning to return to reality with each second that passed. In that time, he wanted to say something, any one thing that he could before he left. Yet, every time he opened his mouth, no words followed. He felt ashamed, he felt angry, he felt….pathetic with himself as his body was just moments away from leaving his mind.

"I'm sorry." Was all that he could manage to say, just as his mental image began to fade. Despite his body fading, he felt something sliding down his cheeks. Kyuubi assumed it was the rain, not knowing that his actual tears were being mixed in with the rain.

**Reality**

The moment he was aware that there was no rain, nor heavy wind, falling upon him, he allowed his slit sapphire orbs to slowly open, taking in the light from the nearby window that displayed the sunny late afternoon sky outside. Once he had readjusted himself to his surroundings, he flopped back onto the couch he had been sitting in and let out an shuddering sigh. Simple words could not describe the amount of self-loathing he now possessed.

He knew that he was wrong for the way he had addressed Kyuubi during his fight with Gaara. Yet, at the time, there was hardly any choice, and simply assumed that Kyuubi would understand how desperate he was at the time. Apparently, he had been wrong, and thus resulted in the amount of anger and hostility that she displayed to him not moments ago. Looking back at his fight against Gaara, he wished he could have found a different way to escape his situation, a way to save himself without the Biju's assistance. But, after pondering it for a few moments, he knew that there was no other option at the time. If he was going to defeat the fellow Jinchuuriki, he needed Kyuubi's help.

He just wished he could have received her power in a less demanding way.

"Hey, blondie!" Shouted the familiar voice of Hana as she opened the door to her room. "Are you finished packing ye-…….are you ok?"

The blonde raised an eyebrow in confusion until he felt something moist drop onto his wrist. Blinking a few times, he brought his hand up to his cheek to find the very same tears he had shed in his mind. If he was looking at his own reflection, he would have noticed that the bright gleam that he always held in his eyes, were now dimmed slightly.

Whipping away the tears, he turned his attention back to Hana, a small grin on his face as he addressed her, before replying. "Yeah, something in the air is just irritating my eyes."

Hana wasn't fooled by the obviously fake smile he was sending her. Something was wrong, both common sense and her gut feeling were proof enough of that. But, it seemed that the boy didn't want to talk about it and she wasn't the type of person to pry into someone else's business. With that being said, the girl cast one last glance at the boy, before exiting her room and making her way towards the door to the exit, her three dog's following closely behind her.

"If you're done packing, the come on. Jiraiya-sama's waiting for us near the outskirts of the village where you have been training at."

"Right." Replied the young man as he stood from his seat, grabbing Tensaiga and the rubber ball in the process, before following Hana out the door.

The very moment the door closed, something suddenly landed on the window ledge, its twin onyx orbs staring into the room through the glass. The creature suddenly tapped its beak against the glass twice, as if knocking, before darting its head left and right. The creature gave out a loud squawk before flapping its strong black wings and pushing itself into the air, a single black feather being the only sign that it had ever even been there in the first place.

**Konoha: Nara Household**

"Checkmate." Spoke the heavily scared man known as Shikaku, a frown etched on his features as he stared at his 'opponent' in their game. "That's the fifth game I've won….in a row, Shikamaru."

"Troublesome." Was the lazy boy's reply as he stared at the shogi board with a glazed look in his eyes. "Guess I'm not really in the mood to play dad."

Shikaku's frown deepened as he stared at his son, who was sitting across from him. It was rare for his son to be so uncaring about his favorite game. There was hardly ever a time in which Shikamaru wasn't interested in playing. The few times that he did act like this, was when Chouji had hospitalized from his actions in the Chuunin Finals not too long ago. But, what was odd, was that the boy had been discharged from the hospital about a week ago. So, that left the question as to what was on the boy's mind at the moment.

"Is something troubling you, Shikamaru?" asked the man, hoping that his son would share what had him so concerned that he couldn't even play shogi.

The said boy glanced at his father, the same glazed look never leaving his eyes. In truth, a lot of things were on his mind at the moment. Most of what had been bothering him was revolved around a familiar blonde haired young man, who was currently out on a mission. When the boy had suddenly left the hospital, he was hoping to find him first to ask him a few things that had been on his mind recently.

The biggest thing on his list of questions had been the very feat that had ended up saving the lives of thousands. He knew for a fact that there was no such jutsu that displayed the power in which he had witnessed. He also knew that the boy couldn't have possibly created a technique that was easily S-Rank Ninjutsu in a single month of training. Sure he knew that the boy was talented but, with the power in which he displayed against Gaara, he knew that there was something more about the blonde than just talent.

This theory alone was enough for him to grow curious. From what he could remember Naruto was, to put it bluntly, worthless. He didn't have any note-worthy skills, no clan, no real intelligence, nothing. If anything, back in the academy days, the boy was just a regular civilian kid with a lot of bark but no bite. And yet, in the span of only a few months, he's utilized some rather powerful techniques, a strange sword, a new appearance, and some form of intellect. All these things, in his eyes at least, were impossible to accomplish in the span of a few months, even with someone such as Hatake Kakashi as his sensei.

At first he assumed it was the boy's bloodline, just as he had said during the Chuunin Exam finals. However, after searching the records of most known bloodlines in the village, he had noticed that there wasn't a single clan that had abilities similar to what Naruto had displayed. No clan in the village could change their appearance to the degree that Naruto did, no clan that could rapidly regenerate their wounds from battle, not a single person in the village could produce blue flames or generate a yellow whip of pure chakra and use it as a weapon. So, needless to say, Shikamaru just wasn't buying the boy's story revolving around this so called bloodline of his anymore.

Then there was the fact that, upon his sudden re-appearance, he leaves the village with the one of the Legendary Sannin on tow. Once again, Shikamaru's suspicions grew with this new development. Why would Naruto, a Genin, accompany someone who easily rivals that of a Kage? How was Naruto even acquainted with the man in the first place? These were just some of the questions running through his head, and yet he still hadn't found a single answer either.

In his conclusion to all this, he could honestly say that there was a big mystery that revolved around the blonde haired hero. And, whatever this mystery was, a good portion of people were keeping it very discreet.

"Shikamaru." Spoke the boy's father once more, releasing the lazy genius from his thoughts. His father was currently gazing at him with a concerned look in his eyes, wondering what could be making the boy act so thoughtful as of late.

The said boy gave his father a tired stare as he contemplated how he should answer. It was possible that his dad might have more information than he could gather on his own, due to the fact that his dad was a Jounin while he was merely a Genin. But, there was also a possibility that the man didn't know much about the blonde either, since he hardly ever seen or talked about the boy in the past. Groaning, he glanced over at the sky, seeing the fluffy white clouds slowly drift through the endless blue sea called the sky.

"I've just have a lot on my mind, that's all." Replied the young man with a sigh before finally re-addressing his father, who was now staring at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Care to talk about it son?"

"Its troublesome, but I do have something I want to ask." Replied the boy, leaning forward until his elbows were pressed up against the shogi board. "What do you know about Uzumaki Naruto?"

**Unknown Location: Four Hours Later**

Naruto sighed as he stared up at sky, his eyes glazed over while the full moon that shined down upon his frame. He was currently lying out on the fresh green grass that made up most the clearing that the group was camping out for the night. While Naruto was persistent in continuing further so that this mission could finally end, Jiraiya had stated that it would be best to simply camp out and get started early in the morning. He didn't like this, but Hana had also agreed to the man's idea, thus him being forced to do so as well.

But, no matter what he did, sleep simply wouldn't come to him. He was restless, not because of the mission, but due to his earlier chat with Kyuubi. The look on her face, her actions against him and the lack of hesitation in her said actions proved to be a clear indicator that she no longer wished to see him. He wasn't sure, but the blonde suspected that even Taishou was disappointed in him, someone who he thought would understand his situation and sympathize with him. Of course, this was just a suspicion, but the way he spoke to him in his mind-scape made him believe that he was, indeed, not happy with him.

Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he continued to stare up at the star littered sky above him. Even his star gazing, which usually helped him relax a bit, wasn't helping that much. Other than the moon, everything else seemed to be duller than normal. Letting out a sigh, he shoved his hands in his pocket, only to feel the rubber texture of the ball he had been using recently since deflating the originally one he had been using.

Removing the said ball from the contents of his pocket, he held it in the palm of his right hand, moving his hand slightly allowing the round object to roll back in forth in his palm. He didn't know why he even bothered to bring this thing out, all it did was taunt him endlessly just because it wouldn't pop. Deciding that, since he had nothing else to do and couldn't sleep, he'd give it one last go and try to turn in for the night.

Once he was standing on his feet, he let out a calming sigh before staring down at the object in his right hand and began to channel his chakra into the said object. His eyes narrowed as he focused his chakra to shift in all directions while pumping more and more chakra into the ball. Yet, he could feel his concentration slipping with each passing second and the chakra output he was lowering as well. He couldn't think strait; his mind simply couldn't get the image of Kyuubi's emotionless face out of his mind. The tone which lacked the usual kindness that it carried, the complete disregard for his well-being. Everything about his recent interaction with her came flooding back into his mind. It was maddening, bone-chilling…..unbearable.

"**I am no one's pet."**That one sentence, those five words simply kept repeating endlessly inside his mind. He his eyes clinched shut in an attempt to drown out the words, yet it continued without pause. At this point, his eyes were clinched tightly, his claws piercing his clinched left fist, his teeth grinding together. It was here, that the image of Kyuubi's impassive face appeared in his mind.

"**Pathetic spoiled brat." **Upon seeing this image, the sight of Taishou and Inuyasha appearing on either side of her followed. Inuyasha looked disgusted while Taishou looked disappointed. Both of which, were staring back at him, before each one turned their backs to him. And it was then, for the second time in a single day, Naruto could feel tears fall down his cheeks as the images of his tenants disappeared.

He could feel his knees make contact with the grassy patch of earth he was situated in. His eyes were now wide as ever as he gazed at the heavens. The rubber ball now clutched tightly in his hand, while the other rested limply on the ground. He didn't care about the blood that was slowly oozing down his fingers, he didn't care about the heavy gust of wind that blew through the clearing in his dazed state. At the moment, all he wanted was to wallow in his own shame, to be left untouched and to become unseen to the world around him.

Most of all, he simply wanted to make things right again.

But how does one go about such a thing? How do you fix something that is broken beyond repair? He knew that Kyuubi would be upset with him, but for Taishou and possibly even Inuyasha to be the same was a tremendous blow. Taishou was wise, he was powerful, he was honorable, he was his friend…. and maybe even a father he never had. So for Taishou to look at him the way he did hurt him more than he ever thought possible.

Then there was Inuyasha. He might not have known the fellow Hanyou for very long, but he couldn't say he didn't like the guy. Sure he was brash, he was rude, and two were arguing with each other more often than not. But the man was strong as well, he was a decent teacher, and he could relate to him on matters of a troubled childhood. If there was anyone that Naruto could call a big brother figure, it would definitely go to his dog-eared friend. To lose such a figure's respect in the short time he had known him, was yet another thing that would worsened the pain he was already in.

His thoughts, however, soon began to shift elsewhere, somewhere he didn't want his mind to wonder. That deranged smiling image that was once chained up in the ceiling in his mind. The part of him that he could become the part that held only madness and hate. The part of him that terrified his friends, made Tenten promise to never become, the part of him that he vowed to never become. Yet he had become that very thing in his fight against Gaara. He had been so fascinated by Kyuubi's power, so engrossed as to what it could do that he couldn't resist the temptation to utilize it.

Was that how he was during the forest of death? No, that was clearly that _thing _doing it. But that only made him realize how greedy he was when he used Kyuubi's demonic chakra. He felt unstoppable, unbeatable, and, despite his words, he wanted to continue having that feeling. It was upon this realization that Naruto felt ashamed of himself, which was soon followed and replaced by anger.

"I'm a hypocrite." Growled out Naruto as he raised his right hand to glare back at the rubber ball, before pouring chakra back into the sphere. "But, I made a promise and I will keep it. I won't turn out to be like that."

"I promise I won't act like a spoiled brat anymore."

He was at his feet once more, his right hand extended out in front of him, holding the ball tightly in his hand.

"I promise I won't make you feel like a slave ever again."

His left hand was clinched, if possible, tighter than before, droplets of blood still dripping from in-between the gaps on his fingers.

"I promise I won't ever rely on your power."

His vision was comply fixed on the object in his hand, never once breaking contact with it, blocking out all things around him as he continued his task.

"I promise-" Despite him speaking, his control didn't falter in the slightest, nor did his rising chakra output. If he hadn't been so engrossed with his own words, he would have noticed that the ball had began rattle in his hands. "I will make it up to you someday."

Once those last words escaped his lips, he pumped as much chakra as he could into the sphere, hoping to succeed in the task of popping the damned ball.

The results, literally, blew him away as the rubber ball finally popped in his hand. Due to all the chakra that had been pumped into the said sphere being released at one point resulted in sending the young Hanyou flying through the air due to being unprepared for this occurrence. In fact, the force that had been applied was so extensive, that when the young man made contact with a nearby tree he had literally went strait through it. Even when he finally connected with the ground he was still sent tumbling through the woods, resulting in several small cuts and bruises as rocks, twigs, and other objected collided with him as he went.

When he finally skid to a stop, he was on his back with his eyes widened and his mouth agape. Sure, he registered the pain from this action, but his astonishment seemed to overrule his thoughts at the moment.

He had just popped the rubber ball. He had just popped the rubber ball with only his chakra. He had completed the second part of the Rasengan training…..

"Wow." Was all the boy could say as he stared up at the sky thought the trees. A few moments later, a small grin could be seen on his face as he continued to gaze up at the night-sky.

Extending his right hand over himself, he gazed at the jagged engraving he had made on his palm the day he made his promise to Tenten. The kanji for the said word, barely visible in the darkness, was now proudly being displayed to the him once again. So long as he had this, he would always be reminded as to why he never broke his word. For this was his constant reminder, the light that would guide him through the darkest of nights and help him pull through. This was what would always keep him the way he was, what made him who he was.

For this was his way of a shinobi, what drove him past his limitations, past his fears, and would aid him in his dream. Because Uzumaki Naruto would never, _ever_, go back on his word.

He didn't even realize that his right hand was now lying limply by his side, nor the fact that his eye-lids were steadily closing as the chakra exhaustion of his training finally kicked in. The adrenaline from a few moments ago finally leaving, which was followed by the boy as he promptly passed out on the ground, his head resting on the uproot of a nearby tree with his grin never once leaving his face. Had he stayed awake a bit longer, he would have seen two silhouettes appear a couple feet away from him.

* * *

Well, there you have it people, the long awaited reaction of Kyuubi. Hope I made it seem believable enough for you guys. Frankly, I don't know how well I did on this one, but that's for you guys to decide. Also, I know I'm rushing through the Rasengan training, but I just wanna get out of this arc as quickly as possible so I can do some of the thing I wanted to do later on.

Now, I want to try something new here for the Jinchuuriki chats. Usually, it would be me and the usual crew up to god knows what. But, for the next chapter, I wanna try something out. You, the reviewers, will be given the chance to ask a question to only ONE Jinchuuriki, and those who I choose will be answered in the next chapter. It is only one question and only towards one Jinchuuriki. Also, please make it like a PS in your review or something, not apart of the review for the chapter so its easier for me to tell what your asking. That being said, R&R, and remember this is just a test to see how it will work out. If it goes well, I'll do it from the next chapter onward. If not, I'll scrap it and go back to the normal way I do it.


	31. The Search Ends and Conflicts Ensue

Hello everyone!

I know its been almost two years. Wow, I've been gone for quite a long time now and I wish to express my sincerest apologizes for just disappearing, leaving my story to rot. But, as I've said multiple times in the past, life calls louder than Fanfiction. But, that isn't the only reason for my absence. The major reason for my disappearance is because I had taken to RPing on the Naruto Roleplay forum. I met a lot of people there, made a lot of friends there as well. They have given me a lot of ideas, and I've made a lot of OC's that I very well may introduce into the story later on.

But, enough of this, please enjoy this chapter of Naruto: Fox with a Dog's Fang!

"Speaking" Normal

'Speaking' Thinking

_"Speaking"_Jutsu

**"Speaking" **Kyuubi or Summon Talking

**'Speaking' **Kyuubi or Summon Thinking

_**"Speaking" **_Demon Naruto Talking

I don't own Naruto or anyone/thing from Inuyasha

* * *

Slit pupil blue eyes cracked open as a single beam of sunlight shined upon his face, earning a hiss of pain to escape his lips due to the brightness of the said sunlight. He attempted to adjust himself, to escape the radiant lights from above, only to his once again as he rolled onto his right arm. His arm felt as if it was disconnected from his shoulder, and his hand had a sensation of thousands of tiny needles being dug into it, from the tips of his fingers all the way down to his wrist. It was an annoying and painful experience to have to endure whilst attempting to sleep for at least a few more minutes.

The blonde let out a low growl of annoyance as he slowly and carefully cracked his eyes open once gain. This annoying soreness wasn't going to be leaving him anytime soon. As he slowly began to rise from his sleeping position, he wondered exactly what the reason behind this soreness was.

"Oh yeah." Murmured the young man groggily as he shifted his gaze towards his right hand. "I finally popped that damn balloon."

Upon those words being spoken aloud, he realized exactly what it was that he had just said. He had popped the balloon, he had popped it last night.

He had….popped…..the…..

"I FINISHED THE SECOND STEP!" Rejoiced the young man with a grin so large that his cheeks even felt rather strained. He had finally done it! He was finally passed that stupid little road-block that had been an obstruction in his progress for all this time. He could finally go onto the next step to mastering this technique. It was in this moment, grogginess and the soreness in his arm were forgotten, and were replaced with a feeling of great pride in his progress. If he was to sound even more arrogant, he could honestly claim that he felt was on top of the world in this moment.

"SHUT UP YOU BRAT!" That was, until someone decided to make their presence known by smacking him in the face with a rolled-up sleeping bag. This sudden action, resulted in Naruto falling onto his back, surprise clearly visible on his face as he pushed aside the object to gaze at the person who had thrown it at him.

It appeared that, in his grogginess, he had not taken note of the fact that he was in a tent, a forest green one at that. In that same moment, he had not been aware that he wasn't the only occupant in it either. For, not even a few feet away from him, was Hana. Currently, the woman was leveling him with a glare that made it clear that she was not happy with his wake-up call.

Again, not even five minutes upon his awakening, did another realization occure to him. He was in the same tent as Hana. Shifting his gaze to where he once was he found that, from where he assumed he was once laying, was right next to where the woman was currently sitting. That meant that, when he had passed out last night….someone had brought him here. And since he doubted that Hana's dogs could carry him all the way back here and actually get back into the tent meant that it had to be only one of two people.

"I'm going to _kill _Ero-Sennin." Grumbled the young man to himself as he shifted his gaze towards the exit to the tent.

"Why?" Questioned the woman, easily able to hear the blonde's grumblings as clear as day. "What did he do?"

"He put me in here with you didn't h-" Naruto's remark quickly ceased as a thought randomly occurred to him. "Hey, why aren't you freaking out about me being in here?"

Hana, merely scuffed at the question as she began to stand up to stretch. The tent itself was rather big, big enough to where she could stand just fine and still have a bit of room left above her. "You're just a kid, what do I have to freak out for? Besides, you don't look like the type to do stupid shit to someone while they're asleep…..though I could be wrong."

Naruto had to refrain from staring at the woman as she said this, a thin line of red appearing along his cheeks as Hana stood. She was in nothing more than some rather short, clinging, shorts and a sports-bra. Her hair was down, which stopped a bit passed the center of her back, and the strange tattoo on her right arm was now clearly visible to see. Not wanting to irritate her any more than necessary, he turned his head away from her, finding Fujino's still prone form gazing back at him, her tail wagging frantically.

He was mentally calculating how long her excitement would last before she decided to pounce on him….again.

"Wait a minute." Murmured the blond to himself, realizing something that should have clicked in his head the far sooner than it did. When it did click, however, he was quick to snap his head back in the direction of Hana, his expression now that of clear annoyance. "Hey! Don't refer to me as 'just a kid' you bitch!"

Hane, however, didn't bother to retort to the statement, only sighing before turning her back to the blond and kneeling down to pick up her clothes for the day. This, however, only made Naruto huff in annoyance before turning his attention away from her once more, feeling quite irritated with how the woman ignored his statement. Even-still, he did not take his eyes off of Fujino for a second, and was honestly glad he did. For the moment he had turned his attention away from her, Fujino had risen slightly from her prone position and was about to pounce on him. But, upon turning his attention back on her, the dog had quickly reverted back to a prone position, her gaze still locked onto his form and her tail still wagging furiously.

Finding this situation more troublesome than it was worth, the blond simply stood and exited to tent, which only earned him a whine from the canine inside. Upon zipping up the tent, his body was greeted with the gentle breeze of the area, something that Naruto honestly was grateful for. The scent of the wilderness was something that he didn't get to experience much while in Konoha, due to the many other scents from the village's inhabitance. To breath in some fresh air, without many other human scents lingering around, was something that he had grown fond of over the course of this mission.

"Yo, Naruto!" The blissful feeling, however, was abruptly broken by the call of the perverted sage, Jiraiya.

Slit pupils snapped over towards the direction in which the voice had come from, and there the man was with a small grin fixed to his face. The same blue spheres narrowed as the man approached him, not liking the grin on the hermit's lips. Upon reaching the lad, Jiraiya's eyes shifted towards the tent which he knew belonged to the Inuzuka, then back towards Naruto. The hermits grin only widened further and Naruto was mentally counting down to when the man would open his big mouth and begin being his normal, perverted, self.

"Sleep well?" Asked Jiraiya, still grinning ear-to-ear in amusement. Naruto, however, was far from amused and the look that he blond was giving him could have possibly caused the man to spontaneously combust if it were to be any fiercer. Noting this, Jiraiya's grin slowly began to die down and actually take on a curious expression. "What?"

"You know damn well what." Was the deadpan response in which Naruto responded with, his eyes narrowed and his facial expression appearing quite annoyed at the moment.

Jiraiya, on the other hand, still appeared to be clueless as to why the boy looked so irritated. "No, honestly, I don't."

"You took me, while I was asleep, and put me in Hana's tent; that's what."

It was here that Naruto had to give the man before him some credit. Either he was a very good liar or the guy really didn't know what he was talking about. Before the same blank expression remained in place as he stared back at the blond.

"What are you talking about?"

Before Naruto could further explain, the sound of Hana's tent opening was heard, which was shortly followed by Fujino as she pounced on the blond, who yelped at the sudden action as he fell to the ground. There was a brief silence between the group, as Naruto lay on his back with Fujino on his chest, licking away at his face. All the while, the blonde making a mental note to stay as far away from Hana's tent in the morning as possible from here on.

The Inuzuka, soon after watching her canine companion tackle the young man, snorted as she stepped out of her tent and was followed shortly by Setsuna and Akane. If there was anything that she had taken to enjoying on this mission, it was seeing Fujino tackling the blonde almost on a daily bases. It was funny at first but, after seeing it occur so many times already, she found it quite easy to ignore.

"In Jiraiya-sama's defense, it was me who brought you in here last night." Spoke the woman calmly, pointing to the tent behind her with her thumb. "It just so happened that these three saw you do something stupid, so Setsuna came to get me while Fujino and Akane watched over your sorry ass."

The blond, upon removing the dog off his chest, grinned sheepishly as he sat up off the ground, his right hand scratching the back of his head. Jiraiya could only stare at the two, shifting his gaze from the blonde to the brunette every so often. The man's attention abruptly shifted towards Naruto when he noticed him stiffen in place, before the said blond whipped his head back towards him. The difference this time around was that he was now grinning triumphantly at him and barely repressed excitement.

"That's right! Jiraiya-san, I finally popped that rubber ball last night!"

That information, earned the blond a look of surprise to show itself on the older male's face, only for it to be replaced with pride. To say that Jiraiya was impressed wasn't acceptable. Naruto was slowly proving to him that he was hidden prodigy. He was already impressed with the lad when he accomplished the first step in a single day. But this blew all of his expectations for the boy right out of the water. Yes, it did take him significantly longer to accomplish the second stage of the technique, but hell if it didn't beat how long it too him to do it.

"You'd have been proud to see this." Whispered the man to himself, just as a grin slowly began to spread across his face.

"Who would have?"

"The Yondaime of course!" Responded the man, forgetting just how acute the blond's hearing was. He was simply glad that he didn't say Minato's name out loud as well. Even he wasn't sure just how the boy would take that.

Naruto only let out a snicker as he stood up once more, tucking his hands in the sleeves of his cloak whilst continuing to grin triumphantly at Jiraiya. "I bet he'd be pissed, hearing that a twelve year old Genin has almost mastered a technique that took him three years to make."

"And that is why I think of you as just a kid, _kid._" Retorted the Hana, crossing her arms while giving the blond a toothy smirk.

"Screw you! You try learning this technique and see how far you get!" Was the angry response provided by the said kid, shooting the smirking woman a mildly heated glare.

"Now, now children, lets act like adults here." Spoke up Jiraiya, not wanting to deal with an argument this early in the morning. "Let's just pack everything up and keep moving. We're not far from our next destination so come on."

Naruto's gaze lingered on the Inuzuka for a few moments more seconds before finally turning and walking away. He didn't have anything to pack up really, just his sleeping bag and that would only take him a few seconds to do anyway. Hana only continued to smirk as she turned around and proceeded to re-seal her tent back into the sealing scroll she brought. Jiraiya just rolled his eyes as he watched the two proceed with their tasks, all the while questioning if it was a good idea to bring the Inuzuka along for this mission.

**Konohagakure**

If there was something that Yamanaka Ino hated more than anything else, it was boredom. She disliked being bored, plain and simple. She enjoyed relaxing, she enjoyed shopping, she enjoyed a lot of things she did in her free-time. But eventually relaxing meant being lazy, shopping cost money, and most of the things she did in her free time just weren't appealing when you did them all by yourself.

She guessed that now would be a good time to train, but again that didn't do much when you did it by yourself. That isn't to say that she shouldn't do it, but there was more improvement when you had someone to spar with aside from just a test-dummy or a post. She had tried to pass some time with Sakura, in an attempt to rebuild their stained relationship, but the girl had apparently went off somewhere to train. Where this place was, neither she nor the Haruno's knew.

Ino was discouraged by this only a bit, before deciding to next track down her teammates. While their team meetings were usually held later on in the day, it wouldn't hurt to get something done beforehand. Unfortunately, Chouji was actually having some training going on with his father, and Shikamaru was off somewhere cloud-gazing. This only made her frustration grow further and thus, was now heading towards a training ground to do something to pass the time. It was rather annoying when one of the few times she wants to do something everyone else is too busy or indisposed to join her.

It was with a frustrated sigh that Ino slowly approached the training ground that her team had used when not lazing about as Asuna and Shikamaru played Shogi. Yet, as she approached, she took notice of something that she wasn't honestly expecting.

In the center of the training ground, stood a young man garbed in black standing in front of one of the posts in the center. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was the same young man who had visited her shop almost three weeks ago. Said young man didn't appear to have noticed her approach, which in turn lead her to staying back to observe, her gaze curious as to what he was doing.

She had heard through her father that the Raikage had left a week ago, but did not bring back all of shinobi with him. A couple of them remained to assist in the repairs to the village and to negotiate with the council about reforming a treaty. While she didn't get all the details on the situation Ino did know that the final verdict of this alliance was going to be made once the Godaime Hokage was appointed. As it stood, the whole idea was sketchy, but the Raikage had done something to maintain the coucil's interest.

He had left a specific, and valuable, member of their ranks to remain in the village until the Godaime was appointed and gave the verdict. It was rather high gamble from what she heard from her father, but it did at least show how serious they were about it. And while Konoha still had other allies, Kumo was a big country and a powerful ally to have. It was just the issue of how trustworthy they were that was the issue, but that was apparently being addressed and so far, they appeared quite serious about this alliance.

Then again, with Kumo and Konoha's stained reputation between eachother, it wouldn't surprise anyone if Kumo tried to stab Konoha in the back once again.

Back to the situation at hand, Ino didn't need to be Sakura to know that this was one of the shinobi that had remained in the village. A Genin, yes, but if he was accepted to come to the Chuunin exam and made it all the way to the third test then that had to mean something. It wasn't everyday that you send your best Genin to another nation to advance in rank after-all. Knowing this, and seeing how fast he was in the preliminary rounds, she was curious as to what he was about to do.

Her train of thought was abruptly broken when a heavy breeze swept through the clearing, rustling the trees around her resulting in multiple leaves to go fluttering around in the air. It was in that moment that the young man finally moved, his right hand reaching for his blade before swiftly removing it from its scabbard in a blink of an eye. Ino could only watch as the young man proceeded to cleave every leaf that approached him, waving and avoiding any contact leaves and cutting them down effortlessly as they passed. Seeing this sight reminded her of when the boy had done this against the girl Tenten.

It made her realize just how amazing it was to witness up-close and personal. Unfortunately, it made her realize something else; that she was envious of him. Watching the way he moved, avoiding every leaf and cut it down was something she honestly wished she could do. As it stood, she didn't have that kind of skill, and honestly doubted she ever would. Watching this spectacle was making her feel self-conscious about her own skills…or lack of for that mater.

"I wish I could do that." Muttered the girl, forgetting the fact that she was practically spying on the young man as she continued to watch him perform this rather impressive feat take-place.

With one last swipe of his sword, the last leaf spit in half before fluttering passed him. With a content sigh, Metaru twirled his blade in his hand before sheathing it back into its scabbard. While this training method wasn't like it was in Kumo, it certainly did help him retain his Kenjutsu skills. To his surprise, however, the sound of slow-beat clapping could be heard behind him. Snapping his gaze over in the direction that the sound was originating from, he found the girl from the flower shop standing by the edge of the training ground.

Ino herself was surprised that she was clapping at the display she had witnessed. He did deserve it, but she didn't know what gave her the incentive to actually go through with it. But, regardless of reason, he did deserve this since it was the first time she had seen someone use a blade that effectively up close.

"Nice job." Complemented the blond as continued to clap.

Metaru smirked a bit at this before turning his body to face her and give a mock bow. Being the teammate of a Jinchuuriki and a proclaimed super human made his sword skills shadow in comparison to theirs. So it was quite refreshing to see someone commend on his own skills for a change.

Surprisingly, the mock-bow earned a small snicker to escape from the blonde's lips. It couldn't honestly be helped, since it was rather amusing to see. As her clapping ceased, Metaru straitened himself before taking a few steps back and leaning up against the post behind him.

"Thank you very much." Was his response before his expression changed to confusion. "I guess you where there the entire time?"

"Sorta." Spoke the girl truthfully as she stepped further into the clearing. "I showed up just before that big breeze, so I was just in time to see you do…well that."

"Ah, I see."

"You practice like this in Kumo too?"

"Whenever I'm able to, yes."

"When did you start training in using a sword?"

"When I was quite young, actually." By this point, Ino was now directly in front of him, seated in the grass with her elbows propped on her knees and both hands under her chin, her gaze staring directly at his face. "My family owns a blacksmith shop, so I have always been around swords and other assortment of weapons."

"My family just owns a flower shop; you know the one you visited that one time. I know all sorts of things about plants, some minor poisons, and other stuff. Not a lot really interesting or very useful things though."

"I'd prefer that than being covered and coal, sweat, and hot iron all day." Was the rather blunt response of Metaru, who now had his arms crossed over his chest.

"Yeah, I guess its better than doing that." Admitted Ino sheepishly, not finding that information all that appealing herself. Yes, dealing with plants and flowers definitely beat the hell out of that kind of work.

"The pay's good though, if we get a special order."

That, however, was something that Ino couldn't deny was a benefit. Blacksmiths did make good money, since kunai, shuriken, and all sorts of everyday weapons needed to be made somewhere. Since half of the time shinobi usually used up all their equipment in conflicts anyway, it was a real pain to go retrieve all of them and was just easier to buy more. Not to mention that making bigger, more lethal, weapons like Fuuma shurikens meant more money you were making.

"So, since your family owns a blacksmith shop, does that mean you made that sword yourself?"

Upon hearing this question, Metaru simply nodded before removing the blade from its scabbard once more. "My dad told me once that a blade is an extension of yourself. If that sword is made by someone else, then it isn't an extension of yourself, and is just another tool. Making your own sword, though, truly makes that blade yours, and thus apart of your being."

As she listened to this, she watched as he examined the blade in his hand with a calm, yet distant, expression. While she herself didn't understand it that much, for in her eyes a sword was just a sword, but it apparently held some sort of meaning to the guy. Then again, was it really that different to how she was with her flowers? She knew what just about every flower in her shop and what each of them symbolized. It was something she took pride in knowing, as silly as it may sound to some.

She guessed that, even if both of them had complete different family businesses, one can find something they take pride in knowing and doing. With that thought in mind, moved her left arm out from under her chin and gave the young man a small, polite, smile.

"Do you mind if I see it?" Questioned the blond, which earned her a raised eyebrow from Metaru.

He only stared for a few seconds before pushing himself off the post and knelt down to place the blade down in front of her. Taking the blade by the hilt, Ino delicately lifted it up, noting that it felt lighter than what she had expected. Now, she didn't know much about swords, but it didn't take an expert to note that he took great care of the blade. It was polished, and expertly sharpened, as the pattern along the edge seemed almost perfect. She could even see her own reflection clear as day along the side of it, and even used it to fix a few stray hairs. This immediately made Metaru chuckle, which caused Ino to immediately cease her actions and place the sword back down in front of her.

"What?" Snapped the girl, not understanding what was so funny about adjusting her hair.

"Nothing, nothing." Responded the boy, waving the issue off as he retrieved the blade and promptly put it away. "I just don't see people use my sword as a mirror is all."

"Well I don't see many dark-garbed guys come into a flower shop all flustered."

Metaru had the decency to blush a bit at that. Not that was entirely uncalled for in his humble opinion. He didn't voice those thoughts though, since he didn't want to embarrass himself anymore than necessary. It was humiliating enough that he actually bought those flowers in the first place, but to be reminded of it was just as humiliating.

"Oh crap, I gotta go!" Shouted the blonde abruptly, startling Metaru as she bolted to her feet. She did, however, stop herself from rushing off without another word. Without thinking, she hastily grabbed his left hand and shaking it once before hastily saying. "I'm Yamanaka Ino, it was nice talking to you but I gotta go!"

Without missing a beat, she quickly whirled around and began running out of the clearing, having forgotten something rather important. Her mother had informed her that she would need to watch the store for a while as she did some errands. While her mom would relieve her once it was time for her to go to her team meeting, she had to be there at a certain time. In her state of boredom, she had forgotten this and it had been far passed the appointed time for her to be at the shop.

Her mom was going to kill her. But at the very least she learned a little something about the dark-garbed Kumo Genin.

Metaru, who simply watched her retreating form, merely stared in amusement before glancing at his left hand. All the while, asking himself one simple question:

'I wonder if she noticed?'

**Tanzaku Gai **

After nearly half a day of traveling, Naruto's patience finally paid off as they arrived at their next destination. While the trip could have been considered uneventful, he could honestly attest to that.

Along the way, Jiraiya had taken to explain the second test to the blond concerning the Rasengan. What had happened was that Naruto had to use an extraordinary amount of chakra to force the ball to pop, whilst maintaining that constant flow and chakra output used in the first step. However, the key to that step wasn't just flow and output, but also intense focus. The way Jiraiya had explained it was like a blank sheet of paper, and how one would look everywhere. But when if there was a dot or something in the center, your eyes focus in on that spot and doesn't waver away from it as much.

To prove this, Jiraiya had shown him a small mark he had drawn on the palm of his hand, which acted as his focus point. It was then that Naruto realized that he had unknowingly done the same thing. The kanji he had written on his own palm, acted as his focus point, which was why he was able to finally complete the second step. Upon gaining this explanation, Jiraiya had allowed him to go to the final step of the Rasengan; control.

In this step, the object was a simple balloon filled with air. However, attest to the first two steps, he was required to not pop the balloon, but apply what he had learned in the first two steps to the point that he could create a perfect sphere without popping the balloon. This step, while something he could do as they traveled, was somewhat difficult to do since even a bit to much chakra would burst the balloon. The result being multiple burst balloons and strong sudden gusts of wind to erupt on occasion. Fortunately enough, these sudden moments were beneficial to Naruto as it kept Fujino at a safe distance, so he wasn't disturbed from his concentration.

That however, soon changed as the continued to advance closer and closer towards the city. Something in the air stuck out to him, something heavy and quite familiar to him. Turning his attention away from the balloon in his hand, he glanced about whilst sniffing the air trying to catch a better whiff of it. This act was abruptly ceased when he took note a large cloud of debris and dust being kicked up in the city.

Upon noticing this, he didn't even have the time to say a word before Hana and Jiraiya rushed passed him, making a bee-line down the trail with Fujino, Setsuna, and Akane tailing right behind them. With a curse, the blonde's finger's flexed, causing his sharp claws to burst the balloon in his hand before fallowing after the group.

It went without saying that it didn't take them long to enter the city, nor did it take any longer to get to the desired location. The scene was a mess to put it lightly, as the castle that was supposed to be in this city, from what Jiraiya had told them, was now demolished. One of the walls in the area was now a broken mess, but after some observation there didn't seem to be anyone injured. The one thing that stuck out to both himself and Hana was the scent that strongly lingered in the air.

It was the smell of snakes; and lord if it didn't stink.

"God this place reeks!" Proclaimed the blonde, pinching his nose in an attempt to avoid taking any more of the fowl smell.

"Reminds me of a certain incident at the Inuzuka compound." Was the deadpan response from Hana, who was also covering her nose with her left hand. "Now you know how we felt back then."

The blond didn't have a retort for that, since he honestly deserved it. Now that he had this heightened sense of smell it was, as Hana had explained before, like fire was going up his nose. It sucked, and he really wanted to just get out of here as quickly as possible. Jiraiya, fortunately, wasn't gifted with their sensory skills and was busy inspecting the damage done. Judging from the destruction, it had to have obviously been something big, big enough to destroy a building of this size. The fact that both Naruto and Hana were claiming that the air 'stank' of snakes lead him to assume that Orochimaru had done this. The question at hand was why he did it, which also led to another assumption.

"She's here." Muttered the man to himself as he continued to observe the area. "She's definitely here."

"Hey, Ero-Sennin!" Unknown to all but himself, the Sage felt his eyebrow twitch in annoyance at the blonde's call. "Can we get moving now? We're dying over here!"

"Fine, fine, let's move." Was the irritated response as he turned to face the two, obviously, uncomfortable, teens. "Lets get ourselves situated here first, then we'll begin searching the city. She's here somewhere, we just need to find her as quickly as possible before she leaves again."

"Yeah, yeah, we get it. Can we get out of here now?"

With a sigh, he nodded and watched as the two, not counting the dogs, practically bolted out of the area. It was at this point in time that he was glad he didn't share the same abilities as those two, otherwise he more than likely would have been in the same boat as them. Though, he did ponder what it felt like before dismissing the thought and raced off to catch up with them.

Not long after he caught up with the two, they found a place to say, sticking with the two sharing a room and him in his own, before beginning their search. There was, however, only one major issue concerning the said search. Due to the overwhelming and lingering scent at the now destroyed castle, it was still far to strong and ended up protracted all over city, thus disrupting Hana, along with the triplets, from picking up their target's scent. While it was far more bearable than before, the stench was still something that was still difficult to block out. Fortunately, Jiraiya had picked up on a lead that further proved that their target was in the city, thanks to a casino owner informing him of her recently winning a good chunk of money from the place.

But, aside from that, there weren't any further sightings of her in any casinos, or at least in this area of the city. By the time he decided to call it a day, it was nightfall. Currently, both he and Hana where at the designated meeting place. Now all that was left was Naruto, who had taken to continue working on the Rasengan training in the hotel room. While Jiraiya had informed him of the meeting place, and the approximate time to meet them there, he was unsurprisingly late. Both himself and Hana were scanning the streets, looking for the red-clad youngster to show up.

"Where the hell is that brat?" Muttered Jiraiya to himself as he leaned himself against the wall behind him.

Hana, who easily heard this, merely rolled her eyes and turned her attention back towards Setsuna, stroking the top of the canine's head calmly. Every so often, she would glance down the street to see if the blond was there, and again finding nothing. Though she was curious as to what was taking the kid so long, she wasn't that troubled by it. His feat during the attack on the village was proof enough that he could take care of himself. Still, she did have something on her mind, and since the brat wasn't here now, she felt it was the best time to go ahead and ask.

"Jiraiya-sama," Spoke the woman, and almost immediately felt that the man's gaze had turned toward her. "Why are you teaching him that technique for anyway? Don't get me wrong, your free to teach whoever you want, but why him? Doesn't he already have enough skills to get by?"

Jiraiya, upon hearing that, gave the woman a small, stained, smile before turning his attention away from her and towards the sky. He had a few reasons as to why he was teaching Naruto the technique, some of them for his own selfishness. He wasn't there for the boy when he needed someone; nobody was, with the exception for his sensei. In teaching him the technique, he felt that it would at least make up for the lack of time he should have spent with his godson. He would be the first to admit that it was just to sooth his guilty conscious, but there was another reason for him doing this, one that he knew was to be true.

"Because he would have wanted Naruto to learn it." Was the simple, yet earnest, answer Jiraiya responded with.

He knew that the woman beside him was going to eventually connect the dots about who he was referring to. Course, with Naruto's new appearance, the similarities between Naruto and Minato were completely different. But this woman had known of Naruto prior to his change, and thus she would piece together and come to the conclusion that the beloved Yondaime was indeed Naruto's father. He didn't care at this point though. Frankly, he was tired of people not knowing the truth of Naruto's parents. Everyone wanted what was best for him, and he was no exception to this rule. But denying a boy the truth of his family, a family he never met or knew of, was something he himself wouldn't stand for. Naruto deserved the truth, and once Naruto mastered the Rasengan, he was going to tell him the said truth.

How everything played out in the end, was up to the blond.

Hana, upon hearing this, gave the man a skeptical glance. By he, she knew he meant the Yondaime, but why would he want some brat to learn a technique of his own creation? Surely there was a reason behind that. But before she could retort to his statement, Fujino suddenly sprang up and took off down the road, barking up a storm as she went. HAna didn't even get a chance to face the direction her dog was going before a loud, and familiar, yelp was heard.

Lord and behind, her eyes landed on the sight of Naruto, once again on his back, with Fujino licking away at his face. Snorting, she made her way over towards the boy before letting out a sharp whistle, which immediately made her dog cease her actions and remove herself from the blonde and back by her side.

"Where've you been?" Growled out Hana, mildly annoyed at how late the young man was. Said boy, merely grinned sheepishly up at her whilst scratching the back of his head.

"On the road of life?"

It was easily noted that the Inuzuka was not amused by this, her gaze narrowing more so than before as she stared down at him. Said boy only continued to chuckle until someone else, surprisingly, joined his chuckling. Said person was Jiraiya as he too approached and helped the lad to his feet. On Jiraiya's case, he found the fact that he was taking after Kakashi's bad habit rather amusing.

"Only you and Kakashi would get lost on a one-way street."

"HEY!"

"Oh relax, I'm joking." Waving off the lad's annoyance, he gestured them towards the restaurant across the street. "Come on, let's get something to eat. We'll continue the search early tomorrow morning."

It was at that point Naruto's stomach decided to announce its need of nutrition, which was promptly followed by Hana's own stomach growling shortly after. Yes, something to eat would definitely be good right now after having to deal with the terrible smell that had been assaulting their noses the entire day. Upon stepping into the building, however, Jiraiya's steps ceased as he simply stared out in front of him.

Not even a couple feet away, sat the very individual whom they had been searching for the entire time; Tsunade. He honestly couldn't believe it, all that searching and she simply popped out of the blue here of all places. For a few seconds, he thought that he was seeing things, but this was proven inconclusive as the said woman had taken notice to him and immediately scuffed before turning her attention away from the door.

Naruto, tired of the man blocking the entrance, pushed passed him before also taking note of the woman Jiraiya was staring at. The first thing that he took notice to, despite himself, was the woman's chest. _That_ was something nobody wouldn't notice first thing, and he was no exception. Once he was able to tear his eyes away from the chest area, he found that she too was a blonde, only a darker shade, which was quite long and were tied into two loose pony tails. From what he could see, she was wearing a blouse that looked similar to a kimono only that there weren't any sleeves on the article of clothing. While her skin was quite fair, the thing that really stuck out was the strange mark on her forehead, something he couldn't make out from where he was at the moment.

All in all, he could understand why Jiraiya was standing there gawking; cause frankly the lady was hot. Though, he had expected the man to make some sort of comment by now, which in tern made him turn to see his expression. Much to his disbelief, the man wasn't drooling at the sight of her like he had expected, but instead looked quite serious. He would later regret thinking what he did about the woman they were both staring at upon hearing the man's next words.

"Fancy seeing you here, Tsunade."

Tsunade scuffed as she raised a glass of Sake she had just poured prior to the man's arrive. "It's a small world after all."

If it was possible, Naruto's jaw would have slammed to the ground. Shifting from Jiraiya, to the woman whom they had been searching for, he continued this cycle before finally pointing at the woman, who merely responded with a raised eyebrow upon the glass in her hand reaching her lips.

"This lady is supposed to be the one we're looking for?" It wasn't a question as it was an accusation. "I thought you said she was your teammate? She looks old enough to be my mom."

Tsunade didn't know whether to take the boy's statement as a complement or an insult. Instead, she took to remaining silent and not answer.

"Would you two hurry up so I can get in." Growled a third, unseen, person from the outside. Realizing that they were indeed blocking the door, both males moved further into the establishment so that the Inuzuka could enter. She briefly gave the two men, or man and child, a mild glare before also taking note of the woman ahead. It didn't take but a few seconds to realize that what she was hearing outside wasn't inaccurate. Taking a few sniffs, she, it was proven that the woman in front of her was indeed Tsunade.

"Damn." Apparently, she had also noted the ridiculous bust size which the woman had. It further proved the point that those were indeed the first things people noted about the woman.

Naruto, despite himself, couldn't help but nod in agreement. He had a feeling he knew what she was commenting on and couldn't agree more.

"Tsunade-sama?" Question a new voice, whom was now the new focus-point now that they had taken note of Tsunade's presence. "What's going on?"

The originator of the voice, was from another young woman, who was sitting beside the blonde at the table. She had shoulder length black hair with bangs and dark eyes. From what Naruto could make out, she had a long, blueish-black, kimono with white trimmings, which was held closed by a white obi. Once again, Naruto had to admit that she did look rather attractive herself. Unfortunately, he wasn't going to assume her age like he had with the other woman, as he was still finding it hard to believe that a woman of her appearance was the same age as Jiraiya.

Before anyone could answer the woman's question, Tsunade chose to speak. "Why are you here Jiraiya?"

Said man merely shrugged before advancing towards the table, with Hana following not far behind him. The last to follow was Naruto, who was still in denial that Tsunade was really fifty years old.

"Mind if we have a seat?" Regardless of her answer, he chose to seat himself in the seat opposite from her, scooting over enough for the other two to sit. Tsunade merely waved the question off as un-important, knowing full well that he would have sat down even if she had denied him his request. It wasn't like she had any authority over him, and so long as he didn't try any of his antics on her, she could care less.

Naruto was the last person to sit down, with the dark-haired young woman opposite him. Deciding to be polite for a change, he gave the girl a friendly grin and small wave. Much to his enjoyment, he received a polite smile in return. She had a rather cute smile honestly, and thus he felt his cheeks flair a bit upon seeing the sight. This, however, was ceased when Hana jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, which resulting in a glare directed at the Inuzuka. She merely gave him a deadpanned look before shifting her gaze over towards the direction of the two older individual's in the booth.

He got her message pretty quickly, upon noticing the rather moody atmosphere. Thus, he wisely focused his attention on the two, his gaze shifting from Jiraiya, then back towards Tsunade.

After several moments of tense silence, Jiriaya was the first to break. "Why'd you say it was a small world? I know it's been a while, but that wasn't the kind of reaction I was expecting from you."

"If you were expecting a heartfelt greeting, then your age is catching up to you." Was the woman's retort, which earned a snicker from Naruto only to be silenced by another jab to his ribs via Hana's elbow. "Truthfully, I ran into our teammate earlier today by coincidence."

This instantly got everyone's attention, especially Jiraiya's. "Anything happen?"

"Nothing much, just a little greeting." If she was hoping to fool anyone, nobody was buying it. The destruction of an entire castle and the intense stench of snakes was prove enough of that. It was obvious to everyone at the booth, excluding the other woman, that they had done more than just 'greet' eachother. She knew this, but again didn't care all that much. She was too drunk to care about if these people bought her remark or not. Deciding that to switch topics, she asked the big question that was on her mind. "Why are you three here anyway?"

Jiraiya, who's stern expression did not falter in the slightest, let out a sigh before dropping the bombshell. "Konohagakure has issued a request for you to be the Godaime Hokage. In case you aren't already aware, Sensei's-"

"Gone, I know." Interrupted the blonde opposite him, her expression still the same is it was prior to the man's statement. While the news had surprised her at first, along with this new development, it didn't last long after drowning herself in alcohol for that passed few hours. "Orochimaru had told me himself, along with the fact that he was responsible for his death."

"I see." Jiraiya, too, was far passed fazed by the man's death. Part of him was still angered by his former teammates actions, he couldn't let that affect him in this situation. Everyone had to move on in some way or another. Tsunade did this with booze and gambling, he did it with his 'research' and other activities. Still, he came here for a reason and wasn't going to let her go without at least getting an answer. "So, are you willing to accept Konoha's request?"

The woman, for the longest time, hesitated in giving the man an answer. All the while, everyone was practically on the edge of their seat, awaiting to hear the woman's eventual answer. While it still bothered him that the Sandaime was being replaced so soon, the words that Jiraiya had spoken to him the day before their departure were still fresh in his mind. There was no getting around it, there needed to be a replacement for the village's sake. And if this woman was capable of filling out the role as Hokage, then he would have no choice than to just accept it.

After several moments of silence, Tsunade finally spoke.

"I decline."

And just like that, Naruto's expression changed to great confusion. Why? Why would someone decline such an offer? To be regarded, and respected, as the strongest shinobi in an entire village of shinobi was the greatest honor he knew of. Sure, there was a lot of work envolved in the job, but there was no doubt, in his mind, that that being Hokage was the possibly the greatest achievement one can gain in their lifetime. To decline such a thing was almost blasphemous to his ears.

But, apparently, Tsunade had far more to say than just that.

"Even _he _died quickly. Hehad talent, he was a genius, he was reliable, handsome, and one of the very best in Konoha….maybe even in the world. Yet, even with all those traits, the Yondaime still died an early death once he became Hokage. Going as far as formfitting his own life for the sake of protecting the village."

It was here, than Naruto took note of the drastic change in tone which she was currently speaking. It was as if she was disregarding and practically spitting out the world Hokage each time she said it, as if it left a nasty taste in her mouth. Naruto wasn't taking too kindly to this change in attitude, even more so due to the fact that she was referring to the Yondaime, a hero, in the same manor. It must have shown on his expression, for Hana had decided to jab him once again, only this time he didn't pay it any mind. He was getting pissed, and if this woman didn't shut her mouth soon, he was going to be inclined to shut it for her.

What the blond didn't know was that Jiraiya was on the very same train of thought. The only difference was that he had a lot more restraint than one gave him credit for. However, even he had his limits and Tsunade was already pushing it by talking about the student who was everything but a son to him.

But Tsunade was far from done. It had been too long since she had spoken her mind on the issue. This request had been the trigger for her to express her opinion on the matter.

"Life is far different from money. You can waste as much as you want, but there's always a chance for you to win it back. Life, however, isn't something you can get back; so once you lose it its gone forever. My grandfather and Niidaime had both strived for peace in our home, and look where it got them. Both ended up dead in the middle of their dreams, and I don't pity them in the slightest. They chose to do that, and that is what makes them nothing more than fools."

At this point, even Hana was now finding the woman's words to be angering. She might not have a drive to become a Hokage, like Naruto, or a prized student who died, like Jiraiya, but to insult your ancestors was something else entirely. The woman was practically spitting on everything that Konoha stood for. Peace wasn't just a dream, and it _was _something worth dying for. She had experienced the outside world long enough to desire such a world; a world without anymore murder or bloodshed. If being a fool meant risking your life for the sake of obtaining peace; then she would gladly do so without a shadow of doubt in her heart.

"The times have changed you, haven't they Tsunade?" It was a rhetorical question in Jiraiya's eyes. More than likely, it was in everyone's opinion.

"I'm in my fifties Jiraiya, age changes people." Retorted the woman as she raised herself another glass of Saki, swirling its contents around inside the glass in front of her. "Same can be said for Sarutobi-sensei. Its no wonder he croaked, he was too old to live in his dreams."

That earned a very daunting glare from Jiraiya, a low snarl from Hana, and significantly louder growl from Naruto.

"Only a suicidal fool would willingly take the piece of shit title of Hokage."

That was the last straw.

Naruto's patience had reached its end and thus, he raised his hand and relentlessly slammed his clenched fist into the side of the table. There was no resistance, as the area he had struck was broken off as if it was nothing. Utensils, food, glasses, and dishes rose into the air due to the force of this action, whilst Naruto stood from his seat, the tip of his middle and index finger's glowing with yellowish-green energy. With his finger's positioned by his left side, he was just about to extend his youki whip to lash out at the woman. He didn't care if he put enough energy into it to cut her, he just wanted to get her in some way, shape, or form. He wanted to make her pay for those remarks.

He wanted her to learn to _never _insult the title of Hokage in front of him.

Yet, before he could even extend his whip to lash at the woman, a larger hand grasped him by his wrist, and held it firmly like a vice. Slit eyes flickered from blue to gold as he shifted his gaze towards Jiraiya, who currently had one foot propped up onto the table. His expression was still stern as he eyed the young man, as giving him a silent warning not to do anything stupid.

Too bad Naruto had all but run out of patience and tolerance with the woman.

"Is this your newest student Jiraiya?" Her voice sounded smug, and it was doing nothing more than fueling the flames of anger inside the boy's heart. "Not much to look at."

"Say whatever you want about me, but don't you ever say shit about Ojii-san or Yondaime-sama in front of me." Growled out Naruto, his eyes still flickering from blue to gold every passing second. "To me, you sound like a fucking coward who doesn't want to die."

Tsunade only snorted in amusement as she eyed the boy idly, not at all phased by his little show a moment ago. "Call it whatever you want, but when you grow up you'll see things from my point of view, you ignorant brat."

"Naruto, calm down." Credit must be given to Jiraiya for at least attempting to calm the lad down. Naruto was picking a fight with the worst possible person he could think of at the moment. Tsunade was on a hold other level in comparison to the offending blond, and he really didn't want to watch the kid get beaten to the inch of his life by his own teammate.

"No, I'm not going to calm down!" Snapped the blonde, wrenching his wrist free from the man's grip and turning his gaze back towards the woman before him. "I don't give a rat's ass who she is! Woman or not, I'm going to kick her old-ass!"

Tsunade, however, was not intimidated by this in the slightest. She merely gave the fellow blond a small smirk, before slapping her hand onto the table before raising herself up out of her seat. She gazed into the boy's eyes, taking note of his irises shifting colors, which were filled with rage so intense that it made her ponder, if only for a moment, why he was taking everything she had said so seriously. Did a stupid title mean so much to this child? Maybe it was her comment about Sarutobi that made him so infuriated. Whatever the case was, he had already made his proclamation to fight her. She didn't mind roughing up the kid to show him just how big the gap was between herself and him. Though, a small part of her honestly wanted to kick his ass for the brat calling her old.

Alcohol made you act irrationally, and she was no exception to this rule.

"Fine, lets see if you can back up all that talk you have there boy." Retorted the woman, her tone holding a hint of mockery. "Let's take this outside."

The only response she received was a snarl from the young man as glared back at the woman before him.

Unknown to him, beneath all the layers of his clothing, three diamond-like markings on his collarbone began to faintly glow bright red. And, in darkest depths of Naruto's own mind, something within the darkness began to snicker, the noise echoing off all four walls of its room, and continuing down through the vast, vacant, hallways.

* * *

Well, there you have it people. Again, I apologize for my absence. God, this is going to sound corny as hell, but I feel like Dr. Dre right now. I've been gone for too long, and I'm trying to get back into my old flow. It sucks, but I hope I'm still decent enough to where I could make a good enough chapter for everyone to enjoy. My main concern is with Ino and Metaru in this chapter, because frankly I don't think I made Ino a bit out of character there.

I do want to say though, I appritiate everyone's reviews and to those who have been waiting patiently all this time for my return. I hope I didn't let you guys down with this chapter. Frankly, reading the reviews for the first time in a long, _long_, time had given me the drive to pick this back up again.

Thank you, everyone. I truly mean that and I aim to keep going with this. I'm not going to put this off for another two years. I will try my damned hardest to update this story as often as I can. Life calls a lot, but I will put that phone on vibrate for a while to work on this.

Again, I apologize for being gone for so long. I just felt that everyone who was following this story deserved an apology from me.

So, from myself and all the cast of the Jinchuuriki Chat, I'm proud to this: **I'm back bitches!**


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